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THE 



DAUGHTER OF THE AIR 






IN FIFE ACTS, 



AFTER THE IDEA OF P. CALDEROiV, 
BY 



D R . E^RAUPACH. 



TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN. , < ,*****"«»» 



LONDON 




WILLIAM MARSH, 145, OXFORD STREET. 



1831. 






2 7*7 
1/^ 



LONDON: 
Printed by W, GLINDON, 5i, "Rupert Street, Hay market, 



u Unquestionably this imitation of Calderon is one of Raupach's 
most beautiful productions ; yet it is better fitted for reading than 
representation, except when a very distinguished talent can be found 
for the principal character." Nord-deutcher Courier, March 13, 
1830. (Hamburg.) 

" The Daughter of the Air, by Raupach, has been re- 
viewed by the formerly so discriminating and equitable author of 
u Views of Art and General Literature," in No. 50 of the W. G. 
Nachrichten, in certainly an unfavourable manner, on which account 
a second view may be permitted. The Poem is to oe had pri:n ted, 
and we appeal to the unprejudiced feeling of every reader of taste 
and sense for poetry whether he does not feel himself equally car- 
ried along with the imaginative flight and the boldness of the 
thoughts and the whole action of the piece, and inwardly enamoured 
of the beauty and polish of the diction, of the clearness and vivid- 
ness of the pictures. The subject is mythic, and opens a wide field 
for the fancy : yet we are not revolted with any thing fantastical, 
and every thing is kept within the bounds of poetical probability. 
The conception of the whole is neither extravagant nor injurious to 
our sympathy, but magnificent and truly tragic. The heaven- 
storming queen must at last learn that she cannot find the object of 
her endeavours upon earth, and ends with the hope there* to be 
united with the throne of the king of light. Over against this stands 
in counterpart to, and richly atoning for all that is terrible, the 
purest humanity, the noblest, most exalted love in Menon and 
Alilat, and yet at the same time all excessive and sickly pathos is 

strictly avoided. But as the piece is throughout poetically 

conceived, so must it be also poetically comprehended and exhi- 
bited, and that is what the reviewer must detach, if the value of the 
poem is to remain undiminished. Our stage throughout does not pos- 
sess the means of representing such a tragedy in a deserving manner, 
That is bad, but still it is so, and I should be surprised if it was net 
by this time obvious even to the most dim-sighted. It seems how- 
ever a duty to say this explicitly and openly, that we may not hear 
again repeated the old and very groundless accusation that the public 
of this place shews no sympathy for serious poetry, for tragedy. Let 
it be represented as it deserves, and it will be valued as it deserves. 
Why does Menon, from whom yet so much is taken away, why 
does Alilat herself find so much sympathy ? Tiridates on the con- 
trary reminds us of Roderick, as Semiramis of Kunigunde If— -It is 
better to let compositions, of which the representation requires ex- 
traordinary talents, lye by until we are provided with such, than by 
overhasty and unwise occupation of principal characters to bring the 
reputation of our stage in danger. F. lt"—Litterarische Miscellen, 
March 13, 1830. (Hamburg.) 

" Not all that gives the poet opportunity to shew that he is a poet, 
is a. good poem, not every good poem that bears the title dramatic, 
is therefore dramatic, and so happens it to be in the case of the 

*i.e. In the other world. Alluding to the last words of Act V. Sc.13. 
-•-Alluding to a popular burletta, entitled Roderick $ Kunigunde. 



Winter-Semiramis* of the much-esteemed Mr. Raupach. As 
poetry the poem is in the highest degree valuable ; but as dramatic, 
in respect of invention and cut, it must expect to stand a parr of 
dozen of criticisms, and will with difficulty on any German Thea- 
tre — were it even better fitted for such representations than our 
Dammthorberg-*- reckon on unanimous and decisive applause." Der 
Freischutz, March 13, 1830, No. 11, prefixed to a long and clever 
criticism on the abovementioned representation of it, in that and the 
following number of that most delightful of the German periodicals. 

In quoting these opinions of the German critics, (which could 
have been made tenfold more numerous) I do not mean to give 
them as my own, being indeed directly opposed to some of the as- 
sertions maintained m them r .especially that one that it is not dra- 
matic, which is directly asserted by the last critic, and which seems 
implied by all of them in speaking of it as a work fitter for reading 
than for the stage. On the contrary, I could not name any play 
to which the character of dramatic is more peculiarly appropriate, 
or that is more expressly adapted for stage effect in particular : 
there being only one single scene that is an exception, while there 
are many on the other hand that seem introduced for little else than 
stage effect. In addition to this, the scenery and decorations are 
the most magnificent, imposing, and sublime that it is perhaps 
possible to conceive : and depending not on the profusion of splen- 
dour and expense employed, but on the good taste and study of 
effect displayed in the execution. Lastly, it is not only one of the 
best, but one of the easiest acting plays in existence: requiring 
(with a very few exceptions) no exertion in any of the p.-»rts, nor 
anything more than to be well understood and entered into. — The 
view of the poetical character of the work in the second extract is 
much juster than the other remarks, and perhaps gives as just a 
view of the peculiar characteristics of this singular production as a 
mere outline could do. He very properly observes, or rather inti- 
mates, the double plot (in the three last acts) of Semiramis on the 
one hand, and Menon and Alilat en the other : which however is so 
contrived (as will be shewn elsewhere) as not to break in the 
slightest degree the unity of the action. I shall not however here 
enter into any extended criticism either on the general conduct of 
the whole, or the poetical beauties of each individual scene: partly 
because it is better to let the reader at first judge of those for him- 
self, and secondly, because I shall have ample opportunity to recur 
to the subject at leisure in a dissertation that I have in hand on 
tragedy in general, in which the present work is considered in parti- 
cular, and the opinions of Aristotle, and other eminent critics, are 
examined and controverted. For the present I shall only observe 
that the two primary sources of its interest (to my view) are, the 
character and situation of Semiramis throughout, and the part of 
Menon in the two last acts, besides that which is more particularly 
considered in the preface, the historical interest derived from the 
persons and the scenes of the action ; and lastly, the originality, 
novelty, and variety of the whole. 

* So called to distinguish it from Rossini's, to which, being his 
favourite one, he gives the name of Summer-Semiramis. 



PREFACE. 



AS this tragedy is essentially historical, that is 
not merely founded on history, but deriving a 
very principal part of its interest from the sub- 
ject Toeing" familiar and pre-eminently interest- 
ing as matter of history to almost every reader — 
and the more so from the scene of action having 
been recently the object of the researches of 
so many travellers, especially English, almost as 
much as the plain of Troy was formerly — it is 
necessary in the first place to give an account 
of the existing narrations, both historical and 
poetical, on which it is founded : especially as 
they are followed much more closely in this 
piece than is usually the case in works of fic- 
tion. 

Of all the existing ancient histories of Semi- 
ramis by far the amplest and most interesting is 
that of Diodorus : it is also the most ancient, 
being entirely taken from Ctesias, who lived 
only fifty years later than Herodotus. The 
principal other accounts are those of Justin, 
Suidas, Plutarch, and a short account from a 
lost historian given by Diodorus himself, at the 
end of his own account of her. 

Besides these, there is a very ample and cu- 
rious, but somewhat apocryphal account of her 
and of the ancient history of Assyria by the 
Armenian historians, in that very interesting 
and valuable work of Cirbeid and Martin, en- 






yi PREFACE. 

titled " Recherches curieuses sur 1'histoire an- 
cienue de l'Asie," Paris, 1806. 

It is surprising that a history so celebrated, 
wonderful and poetical in all its parts as that of 
Semiramis should never have bsen attempted by 
any ancient poet in any form whatever, either 
dramatic, epic, or descriptive : which apparently 
can only be attributed to the egotism of the 
Greeks, and the imitative character of the Latin 

poets. In modern times, the queen of Assyria 
has furnished the subject of at least eight differ- 
ent dramas, in the following order : (1) Calde- 
ron, first part: (2) second part, both about the 
year 1640: (3) Crebillon, 1717: (4) Metastasio, 
1729 (an opera): (5) Voltaire, 1748: (6) 
Ayschou, 1776 : (7) Rossi, 1823, an opera; (ap- 
parently only written for Rossini's music) : (8) 
Raupach, 1827 (printed 1829). I have included 
Ayschou in the number, because his play was 
acted and printed in London as an original 
work, with a prologue by Richard Brinsley 
Sheridan, though it is only a free translation of 
Voltaire's: and Rossi's opera is little more. All 
these, however, excepting Calderon's, have no- 
thing in common with either Diodorus or the 
present work, having treated the subject in an 
almost entirely fictitious manner, apparently for 
the sake of conforming it to the pedantic rules 
of Aristotle and the French critics, by which 
the whole of the romantic part of the narrative 
is sacrificed, and the tragedy is reduced to the 
level of one on any ordinary subject. They 
may therefore be compared with each other, 
but not with the present work, except to con- 
trast with it. 

The production of Calderon, on which this is 
avowedly founded, consists of two different 
plays though connected with each other ; the 



PREFACE. vil 

former representing Semiramis iil her youth, 
the latter in her age, with an interval of twenty 
years between them. These two are widely 
different from each other, both in a historical 
and poetical point of view. The former, as far 
as it goes, has very accurately followed the nar- 
rative of Diodorus : and though with a pretty 
considerable quantity of nonsense is for the 
most part highly poetical and spirited through- 
out. The second is quite the reverse. The 
sole historical foundation of it is a single cir- 
cumstance mentioned by Justin, (and which is 
itself very much altered by Calderon to suit his 
purpose) with perhaps a hint or two picked up 
from other writers. The action is much more 
that of a comedy than a tragedy, and the poetry 
with a few exceptions, is as indifferent as the 
plot. — Raupach has used the materials before 
him in a manner at once the most simple and the 
most judicious possible, and which might serve 
as a model to any one in attempting a work of 
the same sort. He has only followed two au- 
thors, Calderon and Diodorus: the rest, both 
verse and prose, he appears entirely to have 
neglected. The first play of Calderon being 
both poetical, serious, and in accordance with 
history, has been closely followed by him in the 
two first acts, and some of the scenes copied 
almost verbatim, with such occasional transpo- 
sitions and other alterations as were necessary 
for clearness and consistency : but the second, 
being very different in all these respects has 
been very diiferently used by him. The space 
of time occupied in it he has transferred to the 
two last acts, and begins it exactly in the same 
place : but the resemblance is scarcely percep- 
tible beyond the first scenes of the fourth act; 
rid in the fifth he has entirely deserted his pre- 



\ 111 PREFACE. 

decessor, and followed the more simple, and at 
the same time much more poetical account of 
Diodorus, except in the manner of Semiramis\s 
death. The third act is entirely his own, and 
it is observable that it is the first time that the 
death of Ninus has ever been brought on the 
scene, though it has been the primary circum- 
stance of almost every play of which Semiramis 
has been the subject. He has however given 
it an entirely new character by making his death 
by poison not the work of Semiramis, but of 
himself, which is in every respect better than 
the commonly received narration. All relating 
to Menon and Alilat in the three last acts is also 
original. The account of the taking of Bactra 
in the sixth scene of the second act, as also all 
mention of the Bactrian war itself, is taken from 
Diodorus, Book II. chap. 6. 

Of the persons, the following are historical : 
Ninus, Semiramis, Ninyas, Menon, Alilat, 
(called Sosana in Diodorus, and there said to 
be the daughter, not sister of Ninus,) and the 
kings of Bactra and India. All these (except 
the two last) are also in Calderon ; and Alilat, 
under the less appropriate name of Irene, ap- 
pears already as Ninus's sister ; also Belsazar 
and Nergal under different names, which being 
Greek and not Assyrian, Raupach has very 
rightly altered. All the rest are of his own in- 
vention : and are remarkable for that exquisitely 
classical propriety which is a distinguishing cha- 
racteristic of the whole play. 

This is, I believe, as much information on the 
subject as the reader will wish for: aesthetical 
criticism I purposely abstain from for good rea- 
sons: I will however observe the singular, and 
in some respects unique advantage that this 
play possesses in its subject. It is the mythic 



PREFACE. IX 

age of oriental history: and bears the same re- 
lation to it as the war of Troy to the history of 
Greece. It has indeed in several respects the 
advantage : from its more remote antiquity, (a 
pre-eminence in which it stands alone above 
every other in existence, being the very remot- 
est period of all profane history, and conse- 
quently possessing the remarkable and exclu- 
sive distinction of being the very most ancient 
event in all history that could be chosen for the 
subject of a drama,) the union of oriental mag- 
nificence along with pristine simplicity, and. 
above all, from not being, like the other, a hack- 
nied subject; and one therefore which unites 
the attraction of novelty with that of celebrity. 
There is a peculiar pleasure in seeing the scanty 
outline afforded by history wrought up into a 
beautiful and glowing picture, and at the same 
time so filled up as to preserve faithfully the 
traces of the original sketch, and to see persons 
who lived three thousand years ago brought as 
it were present before our eyes, and represented 
speaking and acting as we may suppose them 
really to have spoken and acted : the more so 
from being engrafted on a modern work, and 
one too of a classical character, (Calderon being 
to Spain quite what Shakspeare is to us,) which 
renders the transition from the scantiness of the 
history to the copiousness of the tragedy less 
direct and gratuitous. For example, in the 
history of Diodorus Ninus only threatens 
Menon with the punishment which is here in- 
flicted on him, which he to avoid puts an end 
to himself. To have on this narrative alone 
founded all the part that is given to Menon in 
this tragedy, would have been perhaps too great 
a departure from historical tradition, though 
even that might be excused by the singularity 



X PREFACE. 

and interest of that part : bat the transition to 
this from the narrative in Calderon is perfectly 
natural, and such as would suggest itself to 
almost any reader. In Calderon, Ninus not 
only makes the threat, but puts it in execution, 
after which Menon appears in the same part as 
in the conclusion of the second act of Raupach, 
and with this Calderon's first play ends. After 
that he appears no more in the scene, but in the 
second play Calderon incidentally alludes to his 
fate, in which he again returns to the historical 
account, representing his death as perpetrated 
by himself in despair: 

c< For in darkness and contempt 

On he lived until, despairing, 

Whether from despite or anguish 

He within Euphrates 1 river 

Sought a watery monument.'^?* 209.*) 

The part of Alilat is derived from Calderon 
in a similar manner. 

This tragedy is a striking instance of the im- 
portance of adhering as closely as possible to 
history (both in facts and costume") in works of 
historical fiction, and never departing from it 
except where there is a positive reason for 
doing so : and consequently a refutation of the 
theory, more common in the last century than 
the present, that such matters were not the 
concern of the poet, but only of the critic and 
historian, and that on the contrary he was at 
liberty to feign to any extent he pleased. A 
still more pointed illustration of this will be 
found in the comparison of two works on a 
subject closely allied to the present, Sardanapa- 
lus'sind The Fall of Brobdinag. These, which 

* The citations from Calderon are taken from Gries's German 
translation of that poet's works* of which this play forms the fourth 
volume. 



PREFACE. XI 

as well as the splendid painting on the same sub- 
ject, would furnish very ample materials for 
criticism, I must leave for the present from want 
of room, but shall probably recur to on some 
other occasion. 

As to my own translation and my opinions 
on the subject, not having room to enter on that 
question here, I will refer the reader once for 
all to Cowper's admirable preface to his trans- 
lation of Homer. His sentiments, as far as re- 
gards the principles of translation, are almost 
exactly my own. Another branch of this sub- 
ject, w r hich the nature of his work (being a trans- 
lation of the first poet of all antiquity) precluded 
his entering into, namely, the use and value of 
poetical translations in general, (including the 
present one in particular) and which well de- 
serves a separate dissertation in itself, 1 must 
leave for a future occasion, having already made 
this preface longer than I wished or intended. 
I w T ill only observe that the name of Raupach 
at least is already known to the English public, 
not only by the mentions of him in the Foreign 
Quarterly Review, where he is reckoned among 
the very first dramatic poets of Germany, but 
also by a translation of his beautiful tragedy 
of the Serf, or Isidor and Olga, which was 
both acted and published * here three years 
ago, and in both shapes attracted some degree 
of attention at the time, but which, notwith- 
standing (as I was informed) the confident ex- 
pectations of the managers, and the highflown 
panegyric of the editor on the great improve- 
ment it had undergone by being " altered and 
adapted to the English stage," soon sunk into 
oblivion. The fact is, it is so altered, that no 

* In Cumberland's British Theatre, No. 128. 



X*i PREFACE. 

idea can be formed from it of the character of 
the original, and I believe few will agree with 
the editor that "the English dramatist," as he 
calls him, "has turned to the best account the 
materials that were before him, and engrafted 
others that are original with equal success, 9 ' 
or that he " has displayed much skill in height- 
ening the characters, and arranging what may 
be termed the business of the scene. ' This, 
however, I am more disposed to attribute partly 
to the difficulty of translating his author's lan- 
guage, and partly to the negligence and bad 
judgment of the English dramatist himself, ra- 
ttier than his incapacity, as he has translated 
some passages with much spirit and fidelity, and 
I doubt not could greatly improve the whole 
.should he revise it for a second edition. 



DRAMATIS PERSONS. 



Ninus, King of Assyria. 
Ninyas, his Son. 



Menqn, 

TlKIDATES, 

Arzidas, 

TlSSAPHERNE.S 

Otanes, 

Arbaces, 

Belesis, 



}- Assyrian Nobles. 



N e r gal, Tutor of Ninyas . 

Belsazar, a Priest of Astaroth ( Goddess of the Moon 
and of Love J. 

Labenit, Menons Servant. 
Ihree Assyrian Officers. 
1 wo Assyrian Soldiers. 

8 amarij a, King of India. 
An Indian Officer, 



Alilat, Sister of Ninus. 
Semiramis, the Daughter of the Air. 
Mylitta, her Confidant. 
An Attendant of Alilat. 



Arabian and other Kings as Vassals. 

The King of Bactra and his three Sons as Prisoners, 



DRAMATIS PERSOXJE. 



Assyrian Generals, Officers and Soldiers. 
Indian Priests. 
Huntsmen. 
Servants and People. 



Scene : —In the First Act : The Country about the Dead Sea, 
then Nineveh, then Menon's Garden on the Euphrates : 
— In the Second: The Country about Bactra, then 
Bactra itself : — In the Third: A Mountain-wood in 
Media: — In the Fourth: Babylon built by Semiramis, 
then the Country near and in the above-mentioned Mountain- 
wood : — In the Fifth : Different Places on the Indus. 



THE DAUGHTER OF THE AIR. 



ACT I. 



SCENE I. 

Wild mountain scenery by the Dead Sea; a cave in 
the hack ground. Huntsmen's horns heard in the 
distance. 

Semtramis in the cave; Belsazar. 

Semi ram is (knocking violently at the door). 

Hear me, Belsazar! hear me! hear me! 
Open the door or else 1 burst it. 

Belsazar (entering). 

Why make you this disturbance, restless child? 

Semiramis. 
Open the door ! 

Belsazar. 
It is not yet the time. 
Semiramis. 
Not yet the time! (the music sounds again.) 

Hear st thou my mother's voice ? 
Hear'st thou ? She asks thee moaning for her child. 

Belsazar. 
? Tis not thy mother's voice thou nearest, fool. 
How can'st thou either know thy mother's voice, 
Who never yet hast known thy mother's self? 

Semiramis. 
By my heart's beating do I know the voice 
Even tho' my ear had never heard the sound. 
b2 



Z THE DAUGHTER ACT I. 

Open this door or else I burst 
The vaulted cavern with my cries. 

Belsazar (looking anxiously to the right J, 
Hush! no more noise, ungovernable child! 
If further ought thou striv'st against the doom 
Which, well thou know'st, the gods themselves decree. 
So sure this day I hide thee in a hole, 
As far below the ground that now thou tread'st, 
As high above the eagle soars in air. 

(Still looking to the right, to himself.) 

Yes — men! — and coming here — and breaking through 
The fence, which, mindful of the gods' decrees, 
Myself "had raised, to guard the spot secure. 

Mexox (behind the scene). 

Make room, and follow me ! 

Belsazar. 

O rash intruder ! 



SCENE II. 



The above. Enter Mexon with Labexjt and 
Attendants. 

Mexox. 
Here is a man, and by his look, a priest, 
Who may from out this rocky labyrinth 
Shew us the way. 

Belsazar. 
That will I gladly, sir ; 
The surest of the hunters will I give thee : 
Yet must thou haste to reach 'ere fall of night 
A hospitable roof amid the plain. 

Mexox. 
Then let us wait no longer ! 

Belsazar. 

Follow me! 



SC II. OF THE AIR. 

Menon (to the hunters). 
You, call with lively notes our lost companions, 
Dispersed amid the wood to seek the way. 
( The hunters sound their horns.) 
Semibamis. 
Cruel tormentors ! will you yet 
Not give me life? Unhappy I! 
Why did you wake me out of death ? 

Men ox. 
What sounds are these from out the womb of earth? 

B elsazar (pressing!*/) . 
Come, let us wait no longer ! 

Menon (looking about him). 

Hold, priest, hold ! 
What do I see ? A door in yonder rock. 

B elsazar (aside). 
O day of coming ruin ! 

Menon (knocking at the door of the cave). 

Lives there here 
A human being prisoned in this rock? 
Semiramis. 

save me ! save a human being* 
From out this dreadful living grave ! 

Menon. 
That will I. — Tell me, Priest, have you the key? 
B elsazar. 

1 have it safe. 

Menon. 
Then give it ! 

B ELSAZAR. 

No indeed ! 
Menon. 
You will not give it ? Know then I am Menon, 
To whom the rule of all this mighty land 
Between Euphrates and the Arabian Sea 
Assyria's monarch, Ninus, has assigned. 

B ELSAZAR. 

Then, it is true, I cannot hope to stand 



4 THE DACTGKTER ACT I, 

Against thy might : yet ere in setting free 
This child., thou treadst upon, yea, oversteps t 
The open threshold of destruction, hear me! 
Fade will the flowering laurel of thy head. 
Mute be thy fame, and fall to earth in ruin 
The stately tower of thy prosperity. 
If e'er thou sett'st the fated prisoner free. 

Menon. 
Speak plainly. Priest ! who is this mystic being. 
And what oifence atoning bides she here? 

Belsazar. 
As once from Ascalon returning home 
I reached the entrance of yon range of hills, 
I saw, descending from a mountain's brow, 
A wonderous prospect in the vale below. 
In a wide area furious contest waged 
Lion and jackaiL panther, wolf and bear, 
With owl and raven, vulture, hawk and crane, 
And other beasts beside with other birds «* 

Of tribes more numerous than my eye could con 
Within the circle, on a bed of palms, 
A new-born infant lay ; assiduous doves> 
Forgetting their timidity, flew round 
The infant's head, and tender nutriment 
Into the rose-bud of its lips instilled. 
This when I saw. I knew that Earth and Air 
Strove here together on the infant's life. 
That, by the wild beasts^ fury to destroy, 
TAis, by the birds' protecting care to save. 
I came up near, and beasts and birds dispersed : 
I took the infant up and brought it home. 
Then fearing at the unwonted prodigy, 
I counselkd Astaroth, the mighty goddess 
In whose dread service flows my life away : 
' ; The infant's mother/' said she " is Derceto, 
tf The queen of air, who in clandestine love 
" Link'd with a mortal, brought this child to lig] 
" Woe ! woe to men, if e'er mature of age 
; She treads the stage of life : destruction bring 
" She will to whosoever comes her near, 
-' And many will come near, caught with the charm 



SC\ II. OF THE AIR. 

" Of her bright beauty and her glowing words. 
" And war and bloodshed, rapine, mutiny, 
" Treason and death shall follow on her steps, 
" Until herself she drives upon destruction. " 

Menon. 
And therefore in this dungeon must she pine, 
Poor victim of a dubious oracle ? 

Belsazar. 
Yes, she herself, Semiramis, so called 
Because the birds her infant life preserved. 
This cave, her cradle once, her dwelling now, 
Shall yet the same be one day hence her grave : 
So wills the awful goddess Astaroth. 
She fears lest one day hence Semiramis 
To those who love her bringing fatal ill 
Should take from men the confidence of love. 
Already twice nine years I guard her here, 
Nought knows she yet of earth beside this rock, 
And the dark level of yon poisonous lake, 
Nought of the world save what to her my mind 
Of gods and mortals has at times revealed. 

Menon, 
Such education to a child to give 
Befits a monster rather than a man. 

Belsazar. 
She is a monster : like the storm her rage, 
And stubborn as her senseless rock her breast. 
Now you have learned whate'er there is to know, 
So wait no longer — (lie is going.) 
Menon. 
Stand ! you shall not go. 
The unhappy victim suffers innocent, 
Your jealous fear alone is her offence. 
This bear I not : myself shall set her free. 

Belsazar. 
Dost thou not fear the anger of the gods? 

Menon. 
A deed humane need never fear the gods. 

Belsazar. 
Wilt thou contemn a prophet's solemn warning ? 

Menon. 
Who warns against what's good, deserves contempt. 



6 THE DAUGHTER ACT I. 

The gods themselves create the poisonous tree, 
Yet tiie discernment that they give to men 
Warns them to shun the fruit, yet from the rind 
Derive the essence of salubrious balm. 

Belsazar. 
Pride is the evil daemon of mankind. 

Menon. 
I will have no more words : give up the key, 

Belsazar. 
That I will not. 

Menon. 
Then I make use of force. 
Belsazar. 
O what a future. Sun, wilt thou behold ! 
(He runs off to the right.) 
Menon. 
Run ! stop him ! snatch the key from out his hands \ 

Lab exit. 
It is too late : he plunged into the lake. 

! in the desperate frenzy of this priest 

1 see the danger that impends on thee. 

Semi ram is. 
Break open the jaws of this terrible rock, 
And force the devour er to give up his prey ! 

Menon. 
Break the door open, for I will behold her. 
Even tho' the wondrous sight should strike me blind. 

(The door of the cave is burst open,) 
Xow, monster ! come from out thy dungeon's grave ! 



SCENE III. 



Semiramis comes out of the cave. She wears a frock 

of roeshin, a tiger skin coven her upper part; her 
head is uncovered, her hair flows down from her 
head. She runs on to the front of the stage with- 
out noticing the persons present. The above, 
without Belsazar. 

Semiramis. 
Welcome life ! welcome light ! 
Welcome heaven and earth! 



SC. III. OF THE AIR. 

How dazzling pours upon my sight 

This day of opening birth ! 
Now shinest thou, Sun, in thy highest sphere, 

Thou eye of heaven's blue height ! 
Now, Air, is thy breath refreshing and clear, 

Now is it a draught of delight : 
No rock shall be near me to-night to confine, 
T am at last free, and Existence is mine ! 

Menon (eying her in admiration). 

O wonderwork of heaven's creative might ! 

Now see I well thou can'st a world o'erthrow, 
If daemons hide in such a form of light, 

And art is vain 'gainst that celestial foe. 
Semiramis. 
Why have I then at this desert inveighed, 

That seems to me now so divine? 
The trees and the meadow, the sunshine and shade 

In varied enchantment combine : 
Like diamonds sparkle the rocks of the cave, 

In arches magnificent thrown : 
Above it a grove of palm-trees wave, 

And flowers spring up out of the stone; 
And fragrant breezes are breathing here, 

And the tones of the distant choir, 
Melodiously borne upon my ear, 

Eiysian ideas inspire. 

Men on {approaching her). 

O lovely child ! how speak, thy thanks declaring, 
Thy rapturous tones and gestures of delight ! 

Come, fairer diamond in thy dross appearing, 
That sets thy splendour more divinely bright, 
Semiramis. 

my deliverer! whom my joy forgetting 
To thank neglected, blame not this delay ! 

Ne'er have I yet this earth and heaven been set in, 
Ne'er seen this world and light's ambrosial ray. 

1 follow thee : 1 am like the wild bird, 
The sparkling stone in sandy fields interred : 
And as the finder owns both bird and stone, 
So is ; my chief, the child of air thy own. 



8 THE DAUGHTER ACT I. 

Where'er thou wilt to lead her is she thine 

So far as earth,, so far as seas expand. 
Heed not the threatening of the voice divine ; 

The child of gods will gods themselves withstand. 
jIenon. 
Wilt thou O lovely, trust thee to my hands, 
So will I bring thee to my verdant lands 
That on Euphrates 7 flowering margin lie, 
And long have wish'd to meet their mistress' eye. 

Semiramis. 
Whatever thou wilt, so be it, noble chief ! 

(She reaches Men'OX her hand: — to the Hunters) 
But you from out your golden serpents there 

Call up the inspiring notes, whose voice first broke 

My sleep of living death, from which awoke 
I long with ardour now life's joys to share. 
Yes let me hear again those sounds extatic I 

They are to me the enchanted horse that bear> 
The Sorcerer on his dreadful tour erratic 

To heaven's high thrones beyond the golden spheres 1 . 
(The hunters' music begins again. ) 
Come ! come ! on this impetuous rushing sea, 
I feel myself upborne and rapt away. 

(All go off, the music continuing during the time.) 



SCEXE IV. 



A Hall in the Palace of Nineveh. 
(Four Attendants bring an Ottoman.) 

Enter Ninus and Alilat : after them Tiridates 
Attendants follow, but retire again as soon as XiN-r-r 
and Alilat are seated. 

Nrxus. 
Now Tiridates, let us hear this news 
Which has in such a ferment set your blood 
As almost stopt the passage of your voice. 

TlRT DATES. 

Estorbat, the Bactrian king, collects 



SC. V. OF THE AIR. 

A numerous host, and all that man can want 

For preparation of offensive war 

Is summoned to the service of the king. 

NlNUS. 

Perhaps some danger threats him from the North. 
Whence wandering hordes oft rove in quest of prey. 

TlRI DATES. 

No, mighty sovereign, he himself avows 
Against thy empire is this force designed. 

Nixus. 
And will he break the treaty which together 
Scarce twto years since, so solemnly we signed 
And swore to in the sacred name of Bel? 

Altlat. 
No fear of gods th' ambitious ever binds. 

TlRI DATES. 

Already have his troops in hostile guise 
O'erpast the frontiers of Assyria's land. 

NlNUS (violently starting from his sent J. 
They have already ? Now what further use 
Is there in words ? 'Tis force must combat force. 
Send straight despatches to the governors 
In every province. Tell them they must soon, 
With all their troops in order well arrayed, 
Assembled meet in Assur's spacious plain. 
But first of all send Menon here to me, 
That I may gird him with the golden sword 
That marks his office as the army's chief: 
It is a powerful lightning in his hand. 
Be these commands without delay obeyed. 

T[RI DATES. 

What thou commandst, thy servant will perform. 
(He goes.) 



SCENE V. 

Ninus. Altlat. 

NlNUS. 

Now, dearest sister, must you once again 
Prepare with me to go a lon^* campaign, 
Or else remain in Nineveh ihne. 
b 3 



10 THE DAUGHTER ACT I. 

Alilat. 
My royal brother, I will go with you : 
For fear is always less, when we ourselves 
Partake the risk with him for whom we fear : 
And soon, I firmly hope, will this new war 
With added splendour grace th' imperial throne^ 
With added laurels crown my brother's head. 

Ntnus. 
I hope it too, but not so confidently: 
Because I cannot rate myself so high 
As does my sister's love. 

Alilat. 
Has not as yet 
Been fortune always constant to your cause ? 

Nixus. 
Yes, but that is itself the very cause 
Why I the rather now should fear reverse. 

Alilat. 
Have you not ample surety of success 
Even without counting wimt you are yourself? 
The favour of the gods whom this thy foe 
By oath profaned has made his enemy : 
An army ever conqueror: and a chief 
That in the shock of tight stands like a Pharos 
'Mid the wide roar of storm- collected waves, 
Itself unmoved, beneath whose guiding light 
The sea-whirl' d bark regains its destined home, 

Nix us. 
Half might I envy Men on such a praise: 
But that I do not, for [ freely own 
I owed to him the half of all my conquests: 
And while a half might count for none at all, 
I thanked him so as if it were a whole. 
1 only hope his duty has kept pace 
With my munificence, since that has raised him 
To the first place in all Assyria's land. 

Alilat. 
You have indeed so much already given, 
That for the future merits of the hero 
Tue king's munificence has cause to fear. 
When you shall owe him one more victory yet. 



BC. V. OF THE AIR. 11 

When with the aid of his destructive sword, 
You tread the pride of Bactra in the dust : 
I know not how you shall reward him then I 

XlXCS. 

When all the bounty that a king can give 
Grows poor before the merits of a subject. 
In that new pride he finds a fit reward. 

Alilat. 
I yet could find for him, my kingly brother, 
One other prize beside. 

Xixus, 
Then shew it me ! 
Alilat (gives him her hand in silence ). 

Xixcs. 
May 1 interpret this by my conjecture? 

Alilat. 
Yqu cannot misconceive it. 

Xixus. 

Has then Men on 
Found favour in my royal sister's eyes? 

Alilat. 
I own it willingly, my royal sire, 
For JNIenon is so rich in every virtue, 
And graced with such a list of shining deeds, 
That love is not afraid to speak outright. 

Xixus. 
That were indeed a prize with which even he 
Though he had conquered for me the whole earth, 
Might think himself not sparingly rewarded. 
If ever one who has not his first sleep 
Slept on imperial purple, can deserve 
A monarch's daughter, then does Menon that. 
By heroism, by adamantine truth, 
And by a life that is in glorious deeds 
As brilliant as the floor of heaven with stars. 
Does he it also by a loving heart ? 

Alilat 
The distant modes of state, the awful pomp, 
Which from my king derived encircles me, 
Is a partition -wall through which no eye 
Can pierce the thoughts within another's heart. 



12 THE DAUGHTER ACT I. 

But yet the reverence which he always paid me 
Came from his heart so 5 that I must believe 
Were he more free, it soon would grow to love. 

Nikm 
lie soon will be within your view again ; 
Try therefore now, dear sister, try his heart ! 
Give him to see his chance of such a fortune, 
Which he I hope has never been so bold 
As once to dream of asking for himself. 
Let not your heart deceive you ! prove him well ! 
He will not dare to ask my sister's hand, 
H e can obtain it only as a gift 
From my munificence; if he that gift 
When once it has been offered, should refuse, 
Then must I lose the worthiest of my servants. 

x\lilat. 
O no such word as that, my royal liege. 

NtNUS. 

When love and reverence in his heart you find 
In due degree together : when I thus 
My servant's merit kinglike can reward, 
And at the same time brotherlike fulfil 
My sister's wishes, I refuse no more : 
And lay together your united hands, 
When Bactra's king lies vanquished at my feet. 
file goes. J 



SCENE VI. 

Alilat alone. 
You have, great gods, already given me much, 
Have laid me in the lap of earthly fortune; 
Yet would you give me power those gifts to prize. 
80 add to them yet one, one loving heart — 
His loving heart. — 

Ah, lonely as the beggar's cheerless hut, 
The prisoner's only echo-conscious cell, 
Seems now this glittering palace of the king, 
While one adorns it not, one loving hear 
His loving heart. — 



SO. VI. OF THE AIR. 13 

If so much good to mortals, sovereign gods, 
You cannot grant at once ; take back again 
The cold magnificence that now surrounds me, 
And give me in its stead one loving heart, — 
His loving heart ! — 

Then plant my life amidst what wastes you will, 
Where that sun shines, it will be happy still ! 
(She follows the king.) 



SCENE VII. 

The Garden of Menons Palace on the Euphrates, 
Vine-branches and Flower-beds. 
Enter MfiNON and SeMiraMis. 
Semiramis is habited in the oriental costume, but a& 
lightly as possible. Her under-dress white, her 
over-dress sky-Wiie: the folds of her turban shew 
the colours of the rainbow, the cap is blue with 
golden stars. 

S EMIR amis. 
And if I were your wife then, as you call it, 
What must I do, and what will be my duties? 

Men.on. 
Love knows no duties : all it wishes is 
To find its image in another's breast : 
And when love thus meets love reciprocal, 
It so entwines their mutual hearts in one, 
That all the lover does, whate'er it be, 
Is the fulfilling of his loved one's wish, 

Semiramis. 
Shall I attend you to the battle field ? 

Menon. 
O who would plant the fairest rose of earth, 
That only in the sheltered valley blooms 
On heath-clad mountains, on the whirlwind's path ? 
No, when the trumpet's spirit-stirring voice 
Calls me into the glowing field of war, 
Here in these peaceful shades rest thou secure. 
And at the earliest voice of peace I come 



14 THE DAUGHTER ACT I. 

With ardent love impatient, home to thee, 
Then wilt thou take the war-helm from my forehead, 
From my tired arm the shield, while the loose vest 
Of peace receives me in its shady folds. 
I twine my warlike laurels round thy head, 
Thou crownest me instead with rose and myrtle, 
And were that laurel paid for with a wound, 
'Twould quickly heal when tended by thy hand. 

Se.MIR-AMIS. 

^>Yell, when you make your visit to the court, 
On some great f est- day, shall I not go there ? 

Men on. 
No, dearest thing, you must not. Who would lay 
A costly jewel in the open mart. 
To meet the eye of watchful avarice ? 
I will not go myself, save when obliged 
By duty, to the court. The king's esteem, 
"Till now my highest good, repays me not 
One single hour ] take from love's delight. 

Semir-Aviis. 
Then save that hour by taking me there too. 
Is't not enough that every pain we feel, 
That hunger, thirst, tired nature, frost and heat 
^Yeighs down the noble spirit to the worm ? 
Is't not enough that T must daily die, 
And many golden hours, wherein the stars 
Move bright and wakeful through the solemn heaven, 
Lie blind and idle in a nightly deatn ? 
Is't not enough that 1 have not got wings, 
That I must let the stream, the clouds, the birds.. 
Pass on their course, and cannot follow them ? 
Is't not enough? must duty bind me too, 
Invented thraldom ? have I then but left 
One prison there to find another here ? 
For whether verdant field or dungeon dark 
Keeps me from life, 'tis one alike to me. 

Men on. 
But there 'twas force that kept thee, here 'tis love. 

►Semiramis. 
O, if love shews itself in being a jailor, 
Then will I never let it near my heart. 



SC. VII. OF THE AIR. 15 

Menon. 

O fairest child of heaven, and fairer far 
Then all Earth's daughters, if officious love 
Obstructs one wish of thine, be well assured 
That wish indulged were hurtful. Sure it were 
Far more delightful to fulfil thy wish, 
And have the rapture of being thank 'd by thee. 
But see, thou know'st not life, thou canst not fear 
The dangers from the cliffs, the hidden rocks, 
Tides, sands, and whirlpools, which the mariner 
Upon this sea, which ever foams, surround. 
We are fore-warn' d by that prophetic voice, 
In whose despite I dared to set thee free, 
And whose fulfilment I must yet prevent, 
Would I avoid destruction self-incurred, 
Would'st thou thyself not rush upon thy ruin. 
This well remembering, bridle thy desire, 
And, owing me thy freedom, in return 
Fulfil the word with which thou in the wild 
My ear enraptured'st, that thou wert mine. 

Semi ram is. 
And that I am: I am within your power; 
What you command, your subject must obey; 
But forge my chains myself— that is too much ! 

Men cm. 
Thou'rt angry with me, dearest; never had 1 
So soon betray' d th' anxiety of love, 
Were not the hour of parting now at hand. 
The king demands me, against Bactra's chief 
That threatens him with war, to lead his army : 
O what I oft have praised as heaven's best gift, 
The power to climb the envied height of Fame, 
Is now my punishment : it calls me hence 
From out my paradise, away from thee. 

Semi ram is. 
O take me with you to the field that rings 
Beneath the horses' hoofs : where thousand spears 
Gleam in the sunbeams, and the bows resound ! 

take me there ! — a dawn breaks on my soul; 

1 feel, I know it now, my home is in 

The throng of battle, and the flames of war. 



IS THK DAUGHTER ACT I. 

Men ox. 

thou celestial ! what a home were that 
For such a tender thing as the young maid ! 

Semi ram is. 

1 am no maid : my mother does not walk 
This lower earth, nor sleeps inurn'd beneath 
I am no tender being, for I have 

Already with the bloody tiger fought 

Because I wished his spotted skin to wear. 

O take me there ! give me a fiery horse 

That breathes out flames ! I'll fly across the field, 

Come like a whirlwind down upon the foe, 

Break through the brazen bulwark of his ranks, 

And cut a passage to his very heart. 

Thee hits no spear, no dart, my eye bewares, 

Within my shield they find a silent death, 

And were the shield pierced through, within my breast. 

Menon. 
That would'st thou dearest ? O that word from thee 
Is recreating as the morning beam ! — 
It cannot be ! Saw I my highest good 
So near to danger, fear would seize my heart, 
My senses fail me, dimness take my eye, 
So that the turning point of victory 
Which heaven propitious sent, 1 could not see, 
And should inglorious either flee or fall. 

Semikamis. 
O take me there ! I must the chief survey 

In his own realm of conquest and command : 
Where thousand troops his single word obey, 

And fates of sovereigns lie within his hand. 
There see him Death's wide-whirling sickle swing, 

And fly the wide-strown field of harvest through. 
Cut to the centre of the hostile ring, 
And to the ground his glittering banner bring, 

Ere I confess, That is a hero true ! 
So hope no more by words my will to bend : 

The word is dead, the deed alone is life. 
Mexox. 

O if thou — never ! — foolish is the strife— 
Leave off! leave ofTi for ruin is the end. 



SC. VII. OF THE AIR. 17 

Semiramis. 
Do you leave off your useless words to spend. 
When you have stormed the haughty Baetrian's tent, 
And dragged him captive to your sovereign's throne, 
Then will I gladly of my free consent 

Proclaim thee, farne-crown'dliero, for my own. 
Men on. 
Enough ! enough ! T let you have your will. 

he whose heart and breast love does not fill, 
Let him blame me ! — but take it nqt amiss 
That you must wait a little time for this, 
And think of Menon, till the happier day 
His message comes to call you hence away. 

Semiramis. 
That will I, Menon, I can you assure, 

1 will meanwhile myself to arms inure. 

I will practise myself my weapons to wield, 

The spirited, foaming courser to guide, 
To cut with the sword, to guard with the shield, 

And any thing else of the sort beside. 
I will take no pleasure in easy life, 

Will sleep out under the open air, 
Till I hear the joyful news arrive, 

That bids me away to the field repair. 
Then forth from these narrow unvarying bounds, 
From these level-roli'd walks and laid-out grounds, 
From these gaudy flowers monotonous sight, 
Forth into the wide, the tumultuous fight! 
(Both go J 



END OF THE FIRST ACT, 



18 THE DAUGHTER ACT II. 



ACT II. 



SCEXE I. 

The Country about Bactra. 

Enter on the left, Semi kam is dressed and armed like 
a man : Lab ex it and two other Attendants . 

Labexit (pointing to the right). 
There seest thou Bactra's spacious glittering town, 
Three times encircled with that zone of brick 
Which from the virgin none has yet unbound. 

Semi ram is. 
What none has yet accomplished, that will [. 
Now proudly from their heights those towers look down, 
But soon shall they submissive at my feet 
Bow in the dust. 

Lab ex it. 
Already now one month 
Has all Assyria's force besieged these walls, 
Since that one fight, where Menon Bactra's king 
And Bactra's army set in such affright, 
That they for refuge flying sought the town. 

Semiramis. 
What ! one whole month ? Why do they not at once 
Hurl down on those proud battlements that rock 
That rears its towering height above them all? 

La BEX IT. 
That is for giants, not for men. to do. 
{Pointing again to the right, but more to the front.) 
See yonder all Assyria's force arrayed ! 
( Clashing of arms and martial music is heard in the 
distance.) 
Semiramis. 
Hark ! clang of arms ! 
The note of war's alarms : 



SC I. OF THE AIR. W 

O I can tell it at once tho' ne'er 

Till now lias the sound been brought to my ear, 

The voice of the wizard who bids me prepare 

The rapture of fight with him to share. 

O mother ! give wings to thy venturous Kind, 

O lend her the flight of the tempest-wind, 

(She is going off: Lab en it stops her. J 
Labexit. 
No ! by the gods I cannot suffer that ! 
What would my master say to me for this ? 

S emir amis (breaking loose J. 
Away ! — he may say or may do what he will — 
Life's flood bears me on, and I cannot stay still. 

Labexit (to the Attendants J. 
O stop her ! 

(The Attendants put themselves in her way.) 

Semiramis (drawing her sword). 

Back ! the first that lifts a hand 
That instant lives his last. 

( The Attendants give way , she goes off to the right.) 
Labexit. 

Ye gods assist me ! 

(He hastens after her with the Attendants. Soon after, 
Nix us flies pursued by the Bactrians across the 
stage from the right to the left, and from the fore 
to the back-ground. Fighting is heard behind the 
scenes. Semiramis comes from the same side from 
which Nix us came.) 

Semiramis. 
Where hear I swords clashing ? I saw them there shine. 

( She hastens in the same direction as Ninus. La- 
benit and the Attendants come from the same side 
as Semiramis came from.) 

Labexit. 
Fly ! bring th' unhappy, desperate venturer back ! 

( They are going to run after her, but in the mean time 
appear) 



20 THE DAUGHTER ACT IT. 

SCENE II. 

Ninus and Semiramis returned. 

(Labenit and the Attendants fall on their knee as 

soon as they see the King.) 

Labenit and Attendants. 
Hail our great King ! 

Semiramis (to Ninus). 

King ? — what ! are you the king ? 
Ninus. 
I am. 

Semiramis. 
Great gods, what splendour of renown 
Your bounty showers upon my first exploit ! , 

Ninus. 
And who art tliow ? thy dress and thy exploit 
Bespeak a youthful w T arrior : but thy face 
Cast in a fairer form than that of man, 
The lily's whiteness, and the rose's glow, 
Confess a tenderer race : yet no. nor that — 
Thou art too lovely for a thing of earth, 
Thou canst be only of immortal birth. 

Semiramis. 
Right hast thou guessed, my king : 'tis even so : 
I am Semiramis, the daughter of 
The queen of air, the nursling of the desert, 
Of Menon late the prize, and now the bride, 

Ninus. 
How! Menon's bride ! that art thou not, that shalst 
Thou never be ! Earth's proudest diadem 
Should deck thy head. — Why look'st thou so at me ? 

Semiramis. 
I never yet have seen a king before : 
And I confess, had you not told me so, 
I never should have taken you for one. 



SCENE III. 

Enter Tiridates and Attendants of the King. 
The above. 
Tiridates. 
See there the king ! Praise to th' immortal gods, 



JSC. III. OF TEE AIR. 21 

Who to our fears Lave given a joyful end ! 
Long live my sovereign ! 

Attendants. 

Long our Sovereign live ! 
Ninus, 
The word is ready, tardy is the deed. 
My life was trusted to my servant's swords : 
Where were you when the foe had hemm'd me round, 
When my horse fell, and 1 was forced to fly ? 
Fall in the dust before this goddess-born, 
For 'tis to her your sovereign's life you owe. 

(Tiridates and the Attendants fall down before 
Semiramis.) 

TlRTDATES. 

Hail to our king's preserver ! 

Attendants. 

Hail to her ! 
Semiramis. 
Thou knowest how to reward. Yes, such reward 
A kingly spirit only can devise, 
That has experienced every earthly good. 
And knows to weigh the value of them all. 

Menon (behind the scene) . 

Is the king here ? 

Labenit. 
Yes, master, here he is. 



SCENE IV. 

The above. Enter Menon in haste, 
Menon. 

Illustrious Sire, the foe has been repulsed, 
Forced to retreat — [he sees Semiramis) Semiramis ! 
Semiramis. 

Yes, Menon, 
I answer at your calling. 



22 THE DAUGHTER ACT II. 

XlXUS. 
For ray good, 
For. from the hands of three enclosing foes 
Has this celestial wonder set me free. 
Mexox {to himself). 

cunning foresight ! artful was the trick 
To dress and arm thee in a youth's disguise. 

Nix us. 
Now, Men on, why so silent? are you pain 'd 
At that which gladdens ail, to see your king 
Saved by your bride ? for so herself she names. 

Mexox. 
She names herself aright, my sovereign liege. 

Ninus. 
How think you now my bounty should reward her ? 

Mexox. 
Of that, my king, permit me to be silent : 
For common thoughts belong to common men, 
But kings do that which no one else would think. 
Nix us. 

1 know, you have a silent turn of mind. 

(To Semiramis, who in the mean time, without 
minding what is before her, has kept looking 
to the right.) 
Semiramis ! 

Semiramis. 
What would my lord and king ? 
Ninus. 
What seeks thy eye so keenly in the distance ? 

Here 'tis of thy reward 

Semiramis [pointing to her breast). 
I bear it here ; 
Yet one request, great sovereign, grant me still. 

Ninus. 
You have it granted. 

Semiramis. 
Let me conquer Bactra. 
Nix us. 
You ! by what miracle ? 

Semiramis. 

See you that rock 



SC. IV. OF THE AIR, 23 

That high o'er Bactra's towers erects its head ? 

NlNUS. 

Yes very plain. 

>S EMIR AMIS. 

If 1 ascend its height 
With fifty men, and thence with fire winged darts 
Shoot down devouring flame on those below, 
While you assault the ramparts, must not so 
The towering castle bow before your might ? 

NlNUS. 

Yes, if — But that high rock defies ascent. 

Semi ram is. 
O not to me ! my cradle was a rock, 
And the companion of my childhood was 
The native of the rock, the bounding goat. 
Give me but fifty chosen men, like me 
Trained up from infancy in halls of rock, 
You soon shall see us on its topmost height. 

NlNUS. 

That were a glorious enterprise indeed ! 

Menon. 
O hear her not ! she knows not what she says. 

Ninus (to Semiramis), 
It cannot be : the danger is too great. 

Semiramis. 
O shame, Assyria's king and all his host 
In courage by a woman overcome! 

Men on. 
Thy courage is the maniac's senseless dream. 

Semiramis. 
The king has given his leave, it is enough. 

Ninus. 
That's true : I have : and therefore be it so. 

(Ninus is going : Menon stops him.) 

Men on. 

If you esteem it right to grant destruction 
To those who ask for it, permit at least 
To me to share her desperate essay, 
That fate may bear us both at once away. 
c 



21 THE DAUGHTER 

Semiramis. 
Permit it not, my king : T go alone : 
Be all the danger, all the fame ray own. 

(NlM US go 66 off; all fo Ho w . ) 



ACT II. 



SCEXE V. 

Th e Ten I of tli e King. 
Enter Ninus and Menon. 



Xixus. 
Now, Menon, answer this : whose is that land 
W here you this wonderous prize of beauty found ? 

Menon. 

Y\ hose was it ever, but my lord and king's ? 

Xixus. 
And does not also to its lord belong 
The treasure which it holds within its womb ? 
V\ hy hast thou then, unfaithful servant, thus 
Kept back thy master's property, and sought 
Therewith in darkness to enrich thyself? 

Menon. 
My sovereign, hear — 

XlNUS. 

Be silent, I do right 
When 1 despoil the robber of his prey, 
And punish his audacity. But that 
I will not do, because that thou art Menon : 
For thee, for thy once stedfast loyalty, 
I will not take advantage of my right, 
1 will but take the prize, and pardon thee. 

Menon. 
Sir ! all things, life itself canst thou command 
From thy dependants, and refusal were 
A crime of treason, worthy certain death : 
But yet to ask me to renounce my love, 
A love that pierces deeper in my heart 
Than the warm glow of spring in tender plants, 
That is to ask me to renounce my soul, 
And to the £rods alone my soul belongs. 



SC. V. OF THE AIR. 25 

NlNUS. ■ 
And my love ? — for do I not love her too ? 
Can any one come near her and not love ? 
Yes. without her the crown's effulgence fades, 
A seat of thorns hecomes the golden throne, 
The flowering wreath of laurel falls away, 
And Asia's teeming realm becomes a waste. 
As needs the diamond light to make it shine, 
So needs my life her sight to make it life, 
And so must thou Semiramis resign. 

Men on. 
More justly that would I demand of thee; 
For, Sir ! the highest virtue of a king, 
Who can do what he pleases, is forbearance : 
The hardest conquest that he can obtain, 
Is the controuling of his own desire : 
Forbearance now will shew thee in the light 
Of highest virtue and of highest praise. 
But [ could only yield from fear of thee, 
From avarice or ambition, which is loth 
To lose the fruitful favour of a king : 
So could my yielding bring me but disgrace. 
I have a right too to Semiramis : 
For from her prison's long and lonely night 
I brought her forth to liberty and day. 

NlNUS. 

I have a better right : for from the night 
Of death has she saved me, and there exists 
But one due recompense for a king's life, 
His heart and love. Now say is not thy king 
In duty held a debtor to thy bride? 

Menon. 
A king is never in his subject's debt. 
Think too upon the warning oracle ! 

NlNUS. 

Hast thou then thought on it ? and shall the king 
In courage yield to any of his servants ? 

Menon. 
Our case is different : if the lightning strikes 
The cot that stands alone, the flame expires 
c2. 



26 THE DAUGHTER ACT II. 

For want of fuel soon : but if it falls 
On the high castle of some crowded town, 
The flames resistless spread from street to street, 
And riot on in licence uncontrouTd, 
And smother thousands in a fiery grave. 

Nixus. 
Will you give up ? 



Mexox. 

No, never! 
Nixus. 



I take her from you. 



Then by force 



Mexox. 
Then without disgrace 
I yield to Tyranny, and after- times 
Thy name detesting, will avenge my pain, 
When they shall hear how Ninus has repaid 
His bravest chief that gained him twenty fields, 
Conquered five kingdoms — 

Nixus. 

x\rt thou then so vain 
Of thy renown, and yet wouldst lose it all 
By this refusal now? — Resign her, Men on. 
Nor loveless will thy life hereafter be : 
A lot awaits thee whose magnificence 
And joys even kings shall envy when they see, 

Mexox. 
No 3 kin?, there is no joy but in her love, 
Without it earth is nought. 

Nixus, 

She loves you not, 
That shews she plainly. 

Mexox. 

Let herself decile! 
Yes, let Semiramis decide between us. 

Nixus. 
Ha ! inconsiderate presumptuous serf, 
Dar'st thou to make that offer to thy king ? 
Can any choice exist 'twixt me and thee ? 

(He considers/or a moment?) 



SC. VI. OF THE AIR. 27 

Well ! let her choose ! but hear you this before : 
If she refuses you, your doom is Death, 
For naming such an offer to your king. 

Men ox. 
So be it, king ! if a heart beats within her, 
She will be mine, and if she slights me, then 
Is life henceforth a wornout faded garb, 
Past further use, no longer w T orth the wearing. 



SCENE VI. 
Tiridates comes. The above. 

TlRIDATES. 

Long live my king ! may ever thus the gods 
Bow all thy enemies before thy feet ! 

NlNUS. 

Thou bring'st us tidings ? 

Tiridates. 

Joyful tidings, king : 
The towering walls of Bactra scaled and won. 

NlNUS. 

Has then that wonder-daring warrior maid 
Fulfilled her word ? 

Tiridates. 
She has, my king. 

NlNUS. 

Say how ! 
Tiridates, 
With fifty warriors chosen from the host, 
Train'd on the heights of Taurus' stormy rocks, 
To hunt the goat, the warrior maid began 
Her heaven-assaulting project by a path, 
W r hich even the foe's keen eye had not perceived. 
Amazement seized on all who saw the deed, 
And many a cry of wonder and of fear 
Broke from the hardy breast, and many an eye, 
Before well steeled, sank on the ground at last, 
To shun the sight of her terrific fall. 
For like the ivy's tempest-beaten tendrils, 



28 THE DAUGHTER ACT II. 

That grasp and fasten to the solid rock, 

So seemed she oft to cling without a hold. 

Yet, where the eye saw not a jutting crag, 

There found she still a place to plant her foot, 

And on the scanty shrub, the crippled child 

Of an -unfruitful mother, found a hold, 

Till w^e could but discern herself alone, 

Too far to see her clambering or her danger. 

Meantime had Arzidas, as she desired, 

Already with his troops approached the town. 

And as her standard floated in the wind, 

The trumpet pealM a summons to the storm. 

The Bactrians on the ramparts stood arrayed, 

A brazen wall against a wall of rock, 

And coolly waited, free from fear or care, 

Our sham assault premeditately faint. 

But on the rock's objected front above 

Appears Semiramis amidst her troop, 

And like destroying gods whose vengeful wrath 

Had sworn destruction on the fated town, 

Pour down a burning shower of arrows, wound 

With spiry serpents of asphaltic fire. 

The lightning strikes the palace, strikes the hut, 

A wind malignant blows the wasting flame, 

Till, like a flying squirrel, now it leaps 

From roof to roof along : — then panic fear 

Seized like a spectre on the Bactrian host, 

When they beheld the foe before their doors, 

The foe above their head, the flame around, 

And not an opening of escape from death. 

Then fear gave way to madness and despair : 

Called by the women's shrieks of terror down, 

Impelled already by their own dismay, 

They throw themselves by thousands from the wall, 

Which now with strength reserved, wild as the wave 

Bursts o'er th/ opposing rock, our gathered force 

By Arzidas led on, prepare to storm. 

The foe makes feeble stand : the rampart's height 

Is quickly scaled ; in one resistless flood 

The rushing stream of victors fills the streets, 






SC. VII. OF THE AIR. 29 

And by this hour the city is our own. 

{Martial music is heard without.) 
Here, king, they come ! 

NlNUS. 

Draw up the entrance curtain. 

The central curtain is drawn up, through ichich 
appears the view of the Mountainous Country in, 
the distance. Outside of the Tent are seen 



SCENE VII. 

Semiramis still dressed as in the former scene; after 
her the King of Bactra and his three Sons in golden 
chains, Officers, and others. The above. 

Ninus ascends the Throne ; Semiramis comes into 
the Tent. 
Semiramis. 
Hail my great sovereign ! and the gods enlarge 
With every sun his empire and his fame ! 

(She calls the four PjHsoners in.) 
You golden-fettered princes, now fall down 
Before your Lord and conqueror in the dust. 
(The King of Bactra and his three Sons fall down 
before Ninus.) 
Ninus. 
Now, haughty Estorbat, see what reward 
Th' avenging gods for perjury bestow ! 
(He waves his hand, the Prisoners rise and go away. J 

Ninus (to the Attendants). 
Bring hither quick a laurel-wreath ! 

{to Se?niramis) Come near, 
Semiramis, thou favourite of the gods, 
Who always near thee stand and give thee aid. 

Semiramis. 
The gods, my king, preside indeed o'er all : 
Yet what I did was not the less my own. 



30 THE DAUGHTER ACT IK 

Nixus. 
The gods alone could give thee to achieve. 
What I and all my chieftains, train d from youth 
To scenes of war and danger, could not do. 

Semi ram is. 
You could have done it, if the thought alone 
You could have dared. 

Nixus 

{Pitting a wreath of Laurel, which one of the Attei 

dants has brought him, on her head). 

Thou prize of heroes, crown 
The loveliest, most heroic of her race \ 

{to the Attendants^) 
Do you prepare our entry into Bactra. 

{to Semiramis) 
There will I set a prize before your view, 
Which, if it pleases in your eye,, will make 
The giver richer far than the receiver. 

Semiramis. 
King, would'st thon grant a favour, do it now. 

Xixus. 
Name what thou wilt ! thy wishes to fulfil 
Is no too trifling pleasure for a king. 

Semiramis. 
So let me on a golden palanquin, 
Borne as an empress by the vanquished chiefs,. 
Enter in triumph Bactra" s conquered town.. 

Nixus, 
Your wish is granted, (to MenonJ You conduct 
my train. 

(to Tiridates) 
You, Tiridates, do what she commands. 
( He goes. ^Iesos and Tiridates follow, theformei 
goes off with a part of the Attendants, along with 
the King; Tiridates remains %oUl% the other Party 
and the Prisoners outside of the Tent. J 
Semiramis. 
Look down, celestial mother 1 

See thy daughter in laurel crowned ! 
See her by Kings in Triumph borne, 
The gaze of thousand eyes around ! 



SC. VIII. OF THE AIR. 31 

O command, celestial mother, 

All thy airs in chorus here, 
That they may waft the melodious name 

Of thy daughter from ear to ear ! 
Mother ! esteem not thy child as undutiful, 

When to ascend above thee she shall dare, 
When with the stars in resplendency beautiful 

Shining, she sails on the fields of the air. 
(She goes off: all follow.) 



SCENE VIII. 

A Hall in the Palace at Bactra. 
Enter Nintts and Alilat. 
The Attendants only shew themselves \ then at a sign 
from the King withdraw. 

Alilat. 

And this dread warning of th' eternal gods, 
Which any mortal, tenfold more a king, 
Should fill with anxious fear, wilt thou despise ? 
That wilt thou surely not, my royal brother, 
Thou wilt consider — 

NlNUS. 

I will not consider : 
For every faculty of mind dissolves 
Before her beauty, her heroic mind, 
Her spirit's high aspiring flight. To her, 
To her calls every voice within my breast, 
And peace I cannot have, but having her. 

Alilat. 
And canst thou from thy best, most faithful servant 
Ungenerously take by force his bride ? 

Ntnus. 
No, not by force : herself is to decide. 

Alilat. 
O brother, subject not thyself, the king, 
To the disgrace of a defeat : for think, 
If she does not prefer, she must reject thea. 



32 THE DAUGHTER ACT II. 

Then, is she not his bride ? — and O ! how light 
When placed in competition with her love, 
Will all thy roight and thy magnificence 
Seem in her eyes. And if she does choose thee, 
Her faithless heart deserves to be debased 
Even to the meanest thing that hangs on life, 
And not to be exalted to a throne. 

Xixus. 
She is no being of ordinary earth, 
Nor in a mortal balance to be weighed ; 
Me will she choose, I know, and with his life 
Shall Menon pay for his audacity, 
That for a prize tit only for a king, 
He with his king has offered to contend. 

Alilat. 
Pay with his life ? O how has that enchantress 
The kingly virtue, magnanimity, 
So soon discarded from my brother's heart ? 
Oh no, my king— thou woulds't not take his life— 

NlNUS. 

Art thou the sister of a king and tindest 
Within thy breast yet breath to plead for one 
^Yho has insulted thee in such a way ? 

Alilat. 
He has not insulted me : for is the heart 
The subject of the will I and is not he 
By this enchantress held as much as thou ? 
I suffer much already, and must long, 
Because 1 must in silence bear the pain, 
And can to no physician shew the wound. 
Thou, my dear brother, thou wilt surely not 
Increase my ill. O promise me at least, 
If thou, despising this prophetic voice, 
Wilt madly run thy head upon destruction — 
Promise me this, howe'er Semiramis 
May choose between you, thou wilt spare his life. 

Nixes. 
Shall insolence not meet its punishment ? 

Alilat. 
Thy sister asks this favour at thy hands, 

(She falls down before him.) 



SC. IX. OF THE AIR. 33 

Upon her knees she asks it of her brother, 
A life that is to her so dear to spare. 

NlNUS. 

His life —well — be it so ! but only life. 

Alilat. 
Give me thy word, that I may feel assured. 

NlNUS. 

I give it thee. 

(Music is heard without.*) 

She comes in triumph here : 
Now, sister, view thyself this goddess-born, 
And cease to blame the passion of my love. 



SCENE IX. 

Semiramis enters on a golden Palanquin borne by the 
four Prisoners; after her, Menon, Arzidas, 
Tiridates, and others, Ninus ascends the Throne, . 
— Alilat, as soon as she $£<?# Semiramis, covers her 
eyes with a sigh, mid goes out unobserved. 
Ninus. 
Welcome, fair conqueror ! 

(to the rest) All you retire ! 
You, Menon and Semiramis, remain. 

(All the rest withdraw.) 
Semiramis. 
Do men call such a place as this a palace ? 
Where are the walls of porphyry, where the gates 
Of ivory and gold ? the jasper pillars, 
The roofs of crystal and of alabaster, 
Of azure-blue, of gold-bespangled stone ? 
Where is the lattice- work of golden plant's, 
Where flowers of ruby and of diamant, 
Of pearl and sapphire bloom ? Is this the heaven 
In which a god of earth should choose to dwell ? 

Ninus (stepping down from the throne). 
When you in Nineveh my palace see, 

There will you splendour in perfection find. 



£4 THE DAUGHTER A^T If, 

Menqn. 

O never let that wish possess your mind ! 
For splendour is but splendid misery. 

Xixus. 
No, life's best joys in splendour brighter shine, 

O heed not, lovely, that deceiver's lies ! 
To render idle every word of mine 

By all the arts within his power he tries. 
I love thee as the whirlwind loves the flame, j 

As lightning-flash the forest's loftiest tree ; 
Love is life's only true reality, 

And all besides is but a shadowy dream. 
Mexox-. 
I love thee as the rivers love the sea, 

As vernal flosyers the sun's expanding ray ; 
Love shall life's bare realities to me 

As with a painted drapery overlay. 
Xixus. 
Thy willing choice alone I wish to gain, 

Else would I have this rival soon away. 
Mknon. 
I will my chance against the king maintain, 

Nor give up that for all the world could pay. 
Nixus. 
You shall decide as you yourself approve. 

Mexox\ 
Her heart can tell her which she ought to love.. 

Semi ram is. 
If love is such as men describe its force, 

An overpowering all-resistless sway, 
A mountain -torrent whose impetuous course 

Whate'er it reaches reckless whirls away: 
So has this passion me as yet avoided, 
And so for neither can I be decided. 
If love is such as women's mouth avows, 

Deep in the heart a painful-pleasing vein, 
Like silent fire that under ashes glows, 

Altho' it ne'er to flame extends its reign : 
So have I never known what that is either, 
And therefore plainly I can love you neither 



SC. IX. OF THE AIR. 35 

NlNUS. 

Whose will you be then ? 

Semi ram is. 

No one's but my own, 
Though you put on your most imperial frown. 

Nixus. 
Shall not the woman to the stronger lean ? 

Menon. 
Shall she not loving beautify life's scene ? 

Semiramis. 
Yes, I was much mistaken when I thought 
That life to me had also freedom brought : 
And since I cannot your constraint avoid, 
So will I choose and your dispute decide. 

NlNUS. 

That yet the tide of feeling swells my breast, 

Or still inspires my heart of love the glow, 
That added fame and power my throne invest, 

This to thy valour, goddess-born, I owe. 
Think what a harvest now to thee must bring 

The fruitful seed thou hast so widely strown : 
But never can the splendour of the king 

Pierce into shades so far beneath the throne. 
Wilt thou a true imperial prize obtain, 

In my resplendency thyself enfold : 
Is it thy preference in the dust to reign, 

So must I pay thee with inferior gold. 
Menon. 
The fairest prize lies in the owner ^s breast. 

By love thy thanks for faithful love to shew, 
And by that thank to see that love increased, 

That is the highest joy that earth can know. 
What I for thee, most dear-beloved, have wrought 

Be never named : on that I ne'er relied : 
A happier certainty thy word has brought, 

Thou hast thyself declared thee for my bride. 

NlNUS. 

But think not, when for him thy choice declares, 
To be the lofty Menon's splendid bride : 

No native rights the serf-born subject wears, 
The sovereign's will alone his fate must guide. 



36 THE DAUGHTER ACT IT. 

And as the forest-oak the frost and storm 

Even to the rind can wither and deflower, 
So will his sovereign's anger on this worm 

Descend and blight him from this very hour : 
Scorn him shall they who now with awe regard him, 
And memory from the living shall discard him. 

Mexox. 
My noblest pride he cannot take away, 

He cannot bow the firm unbending thought, 
He cannot dim the soul's etherial ray, 

Cannot take from me what my sword has bought 
In twenty fields, and that at thirty years, 
The hero's fame which all the world reveres. 

Semiramis. 
I am the daughter of the queen of x\ir, 

And tho' imprisoned in this form of earth, 
Yet still my mother's high-born sense I bear, 

Nor stoop to ought unworthy of my birth : 
I will not in the vale my greatness drown, 

The high must only with the high unite. 

To take my place upon Life's topmost height, 
From thence through all its being to look down, 
Then on this venturous steed myself to swing, 

To rule and turn it as my will may be, 
This can alone to me contentment bring, 

And therefore, king, I make my choice of thee, 
' Xixus. 
O happy end of this suspense to me ! 

Mexox (to Semiramis). 
O thankless ! thankless ! thanklessness unheard 

Since rirst the blue expanse of heaven had birth ; 
Earth until now had never known that word, 

By thee that word has first been taught to earth, 
Semiramis. 
Why do you scold me thus ? What have I done ? 

Can I exorcise out of me my spirit ? 

Can I the soul within me disinherit, 
And from the gods obtain a different one ? 
Shall I indeed, to pay to you my dues, 

In low obscurity myself begrave ? 
Am I the king that courts me to refuse, 



SC IX. OF THE AIR. 37 

To be the partner of his poorest slave? 
The gods who curst you with a servile state, 
Not my ingratitude you ought to rate : 

Go buy a crown, and me you then may have. 

NlNUS. 

Enough ! you know your life is forfeit made, 
Yet the request of one I have obeyed, 

Which undeserved from death has rescued thee : 
And so for life in prison you remain, 
Till death shall end at once your life and pain. 

(At his call appears an Officer of the watch.) 

Semiramis. 
How foolish, king, w^as that humanity 
Which sought alone his life from you to gain, 
And not his freedom also to obtain. 

life deprived of freedom ! worst of ills ! 

O fruit in marble mock' d to hunger's view ! 
To thirst's devouring fever painted rills ! — 
Nay give him freedom, I request it you. 

NlNUS. 

To what compulsion love can force our wills ! 
Yet thou art fair, it shall be even so. 

(to Menon) 

Free are you now, but banished from these lands, 
And if you e'er ? despising my commands, 
Return again to these forbidden plains, 
Be sure it will be to eternal chains. 
Menon. 

1 will once yet return to see the day 
When you by her for this will dearly pay. 

Ninus [with suppressed rage). 

See't, will you ! 

(aside to the Officer of the Watch J 

Make him never to see more, 
Then turn him forth from out the palace door. 

(The Officer makes a sign that he will obey. Menon 
is led away by the Watch.) 



38 THE DAUGHTER ACT IK 

SCEXE X. 

Nines and Semiramis. 

Xixcs. 

The day that saw me first on Asia's throne, 

That first a victory in the field 1 won. 

Those days were fair, yet dark compared to this, 

That crowns my height of earthly happiness. 

Now revel, eyes, on that celestial face, 

Now arms, possess at length your long'd embrace, 

Xow lips, be free your highest joy to prove, 

To suck the first nectarian drink of love ! 

(lie is going to kiss her; she pushes him back.) 

Semiramis. 
Off. insolent! 

Nwus. 
You treat your sovereign so ? 
SEMIRAMIS. 
That you are not indeed, I let you know. 

NlMTTS. 
How, didst thou then but mean thy king to slight, 
When, choosing him, thou crowned' st his delight ? 
I will have this : [ will not be denied : 
The first assurance that you are my bride. 

(He cat ch es h o Id v iolen tly ofh er h an d. J 
Ha ! do you find your strength at last o'erwound ? 

Semiramis 

( snatching with her left hand the Dagger out of Ids 

'Girdle). 

Where courage is, escape will soon be found. 

NiNUS (falling back and letting her go). 
Ah ! frightful wife ! Thy husband wouldst thou kill ? 

Semiramis. 
At my own breast alone I drew the steel ; 
Free will I be, so chose to shew you plain 
A coward only will endure a chain. 

(She lays the Dagger at his Feet.j 
Yet gentler wilt thou find thy bride to be, 
Wears first her head the imperial dignity. 



SC. XL OF THE AIR. 30 

NlNUS. 

wilt thou still the oracle recall ! 
And must I dream of future ill to fall ! 
And yet thou art so most divinely fair, 

1 must forget the danger that I date. 

Come ! joyful shall, ere daylight leaves the scene, 
In thee Assyria's realm salute their Queen. 

(He leads her away.) 



SCENE XL 



An open Place before the Palace. — People are seen 
already in the back ground collected around a splen- 
did Throne erected there. The Crowd continues to 
increase. The Watch leads Men on blinded from the 
right into the foreground. 

Menon and the Watch. 

Menon. 

Where am I now ? 

Officer of the Watch. 
Before the palace gates. 
Menon. 
I pray you, send me some one for a guide. 

Officer. 
We may not do it. May the gods be with thee ! 

( The Watch goes.) 
Menon 
(sits down at the Pedestal of a Pillar). 
Thou, radiant king of heaven, eternal Sun, 
To thee do I commit this horrid vengeance ! 
Thee has the tyrant outraged, even as me : 
Thy gift divine, all-cheering sacred light 
From me bereft : I can see thee no more : 
No more to thee my ardent offerings pour. 



40 THE DAUGHTER ACT II. 

SCENE XII. 

Alilat and her Atten dant in Men's dresses come from 
the left side of the foreground. 

Alilat 
(sees Men on, turns away shuddering, catches hold 
in a convulsive manner with her left hand on the 
arm of the Attendant, while ivith the right she 
points to the place where Meson sits). 

Look there ! look there ! my eye is weak, O lend 
Me now the use of yours — look there and tell me 
Is't he ? is't Menon ? 

Attendant. 
Ah it is so, Mistress ! 

iVLILAT. 

Mark you his eye ? looks it this way towards us ? 

Attendant. 
His eye is bad, for it has on a bandage. 

Alilat. 
Is it a purple bandage ? 

Attendant. 

O my mistress ! 
Ask not my tongue to speak the dreadful news 
Thou knowest too well already. 
Altlat. 

You say true. 
Yes, I must bring my eye to stand the sight, 
And get to bear it. Give me strength, ye gods ! 
(She brings herself before Menon, slowly raises up 
her head and eyes, fastens for a while her looks 
upon him, then suddenly covers her face with both 
her hands.) 
True, true, in earnest! — blinded ! — that true mirror 
Of a majestic and a gentle mind ! 
Exterminated ! — O ye gods above, 
It shames me that I still myself have eyes. 

Attendant. 
How can it so surprise you, when you knew it ? 

Alilat. 
Each ill is new to us, so long as yet 



SC. XII OF THE AIR. 41 

Not all our senses have experienced it. 

Come ! come ! let us with him flee swift away ! 

Attendant. 
Consider, mistress. 

Alilat. 

See the chieftain there 
Whom thousand eyes look'd up to in the field, 
As in the palace ; see him now, alone, 
An outcast by the very rabble scorn' d, 
Plunged in anight to which no morning comes. 
See this, and tell me then, Consider, mistress. 
Who else shall reach him forth a hand but love ? 
W r ho else shall lend to him an eye but love ? 
Who else beguile his long and changeless night 
With light and cheering narrative, but love ? 
And happy is it that it can do that. 

(coming up to Menon.,) 
Thou need'st perhaps a leader, noble sir ! 

Menon. 
Who art thou then ? 

Alilat. 

A youthful stranger, sir, 
Who has the leisure, and the will, to serve thee. 

Menon. 
Dost thou then know me ? 

Alilat. 

Who did not know Menon ? 

Menon. 
Do they who can command thee give thee leave ? 

Alilat. 
I have got no one, father — mother, none : 
My brother I had followed to the war, 
But his ferocity has driven me from him, 
And so 1 wander friendless here alone. 

Menon. 
Poor child, thy fate and mine are much the same : 
Thou shalt my leader be, I thy protector : 
But tell me, know'st thou also how to beg ? 
It will be hard and long for me to learn. 

Alilat. 
1 shall be able, if there will be need : 



42 THE DAUGHTER ACT II* 

And of so soft a texture is my heart, 
My very voice so mournful in its tone, 
As were enough to move a heart of rock. 
Come, noble sir ! 

Men on. 
Whence is this sound I hear^ 
That hums around me like an army's tread ? 

Alilat. 
The king this day has wed Semiramis, 
And now is coming with the new made queen, 
To shew her here his army and his men* 

Menon. 
Then I must see it. 

Alilat. 
See it, my dear sir ? 

Menon. 
Right ! right ! 1 cannot see't. But thus you see,. 
When one has seen the light for thirty years, 
He is so used to it, that, spite the pain 
And even the darkness, he will not believe 
That he sees not, and never is to see. 

(Sound of Drums and Trumpets.) 

Alilat. 
Come, sir, O come! 

Menon. 
No, I will hear it yet. 



SCENE XIII. 



Enter on the left, under the soundof drums andtrumpets, 
Ninus and Semiramis, Tiridates, Arzidas, and 
Nobles. Ninus and Semiramis ascend the Throne, 
the Nobles stand round them on each side, Tiridates 
next them on the right, Arzidas on the left. Sol- 
diers in the back ground, and also in the front mixt 
with the people. Alilat hides herself behind the pillar 
at which Menon sits. 

Ninus (standing up). 

Hear, valiant warriors ! hear Assyrians all i 

Semiramis, who her descent derives 



SC. XIII. OF THE AIR. 43 

From the high lineage of the immortal gods, 

Your king exalts the splendid lot to share 

With which the bounteous gods have blest himself, 

And sets the crown on her celestial head. 

(He sets the crown, which Tirtdates has reached 

him, on her head.) 
Now all salute your queen Semirarnis! 

{Drums and Trumpets. He sits down.) 
All. 
Hail thou Assyria's Queen Semirarnis ! 
(Drums and Trumpets. A violent cfap of Thunder. 
Universal consternation. Nix us starts up at the 
sound, Semiramis also rises.) 
Ninus. 
Is this the oracle's accomplishment ? 

Semiramis. 
Let not, my king, this portent cause you fear: 
It is the signal of the queen of air, 
That sends me greeting from the clouds above. 

Mexox (standing up). 
Take now my greeting ! you will curse this day I 
With monsters it impregnates future time: 
With murder, treason, anarchy, and blood. 
O gods ! not on the people of his sway, 

On him alone may your high vengeance fall t 
And as from me all — all he took away, 
So dash to earth in one wide wreck his all ! 

( Anoth er clap of Th under. Am id the gen eral confu- 
sion Mexox is drawn away by Alilat and her At- 
tendants. The Curtain falls.) 

EXD OF THE SECOND ACT, 



44 THE DAUGHTER ACT III. 



ACT III. 



SCENE I. 



A Valley at the Outskirts of aWood among the Eastern 
frontiers of Media. In the line of Rocks which 
forms the back-ground, is seen a Cave on the left. 

Enter from the left Mexon led by Ali lat ; both dressed 

in a 'plain and rustic manner, but not meanly. 

Menon: 

I enter but unwillingly the cave, 

At your request, for tiio' the whole wide world 

Is to the blind but one dark changeless cave, 

Yet therefore does he but more inly feel 

The pure fresh air, and the warm sunshine's glow. 

Ali lat. 
Yet must we do it. Now already stands, 
Beneath the mountain that our cottage bears, 
The army of Hyrcania's rebel chief: 
Assyria's force approaches from the west : 
And these tempestuous clouds are likely soon 
To come in contact here where now we stand, 
And pour a bloody shower upon our plains. 

Menqn. 
O had I now one single ray of light ! 
That I could lead the battle with my word ! 
No, not the cave, the summit let us seek, 
Whence you can overlook the plain, and say 
How both the armies stand, and how they meet, 
And make the charge in earnest or in feint. 

Alt lat. 
That may I not. O let us leave the scenes 
Our altered fate forbids us more to share : 
Concealment only can secure us peace. 



SC. I. OF THE AIR. 45 

How likely 'tis, the soldiers of the king 
Would find us, bring us up before himself — 

he would know us instantly again, 
Tho' by my art he now believes us dead. 

Menon. 
Us, said'st thou, us ? Who art thou dearest being. 
That thou should'st fear the king would know thee too ? 

Alilat. 

1 meant to say, thee. 

Mexox. 

No, that didst thou not. 
Thy fear betrayed thee. Tell me therefore now. 
Even then already when thou first confess'dst 
Thou wert a female, did thy voice appear 
As 'twere a sound that I had heard before. 
I owe thee all, the greatest as the least, 
And never yet have known to whom I owe it ; 
I love thee and yet know not whom I love. 

ALItLAT, 

And if thou knew'st it who I am, thou would'st 
Be nought the happier. 

Men on. 

That is true indeed : 
Yet never fully known to us is one 
Whose name, and state, and home we have not heard. 
If thou hast sometime lived about the court, 
I may perhaps have seen thee, and may know 
The features of thy face and of thy form, 
The colour of thy hair and of thy eyes, 
Know how thou look'st when pleas' d, and how when 

wroth, 
Can talk with thee on themes of happier days— 

by the eternal night that shrouds me now 

(throwing his arms round her J 

1 do adjure thee, tell me who thou art ! 

Alilat. 
I was king Ninus' sister, Alilat. 

Men on (falling at her feet J. 
Eternal gods ! the daughter of a king! 

Alilat. 
How Men on, have I frighted thee ? stand up ! 



46 THE DAUGHTER ACT III. 

Men ox. 

Thou, my imperial mistress, thou to be 
The poor, the blinded, exiled Merion's wife! 
O what a fall— from royalty to this! 
Alilat 
(endeavours in volt to raise him up). 
AvA happy that 1 am ! Stand up my friend ! 

Mexox. 
No, royal mistress, leave me in the dust ! 
That place best suits me ! Let me kiss thy foot ! 

(He is going to do it. she .hinders him.) 
Thou, born to shine upon an empire's throne, 
Even as the Sun in heaven's expansion shines, 
Like him, the adoration of a world ; 
Thou, out from splendour, out from home exiled, 
A life of darkness leading here unknown 
In a mean cottage,, like a ploughman's wife ; 
No kingly ornament upon thy head, 
No purple vestment on thy tender form ; 
No serfs to wait obsequious on thy will, 
With painful labour shaming thy white hands, 
And offering up thy beauty to the air — 
The tears are dried for ever from my eyes, 
Yet thou canst see, my heart cries tears of blood; 
Forgive the unconscious blinded, high princess, 
That he from thee has service oft received, 
And by his love thy dignity profaned. 

AUL-AT, 

Stand up, belov'd ! for art thou talking sense ? 
When I with thee went into banishment, 
What did I seek therein, except thy love ? 
(During this she has raised him up and enfolded in 

her arms. ) 
I was and am, yes, happy, happier here 
Than in the splendour of my brother's court. 
Whom that pernicious sorceress so has changed, 
That he, before humane, is now a tyrant. 
Dost thou e'er cast a thought upon her yet ? 

Mexox. 
I think on her as on the shining stream, 
Whose bright transparent yet deceitful depth 



St. II. OF THE ATR. 47 

Lured me so far into its treacherous flood, 
That I therein my death had nearly found. 

Alilat. 
Forget her quite ! and if I have deserved 
That one request with thee should rind a hearing, 
O so forget that whole unhappy day, 
Forgive entirely from thy heart my brother ! 

Men ox. 
Forgive 1 will a world of enemies, 
When thou, dear being, for them intercede. — 
Hark ! I hear footsteps near. 
Alilat 
(bringing him hastily to the cave) . 

O then come quick 
Into the cave ! I'll soon be back again. 

(She brings him into the cave, bat comes back imme- 
diately, and goes off close by the cave to the left.) 



SCENE II. 

Ninus, Tiridates, Otanes, come soon after from 
the same side, only more in the foreground, 

Ninus. 
Who gave the order through these mountain clefts, 
A passage only fit for beasts of prey, 
To lead the army ? 

Otanes. 
Sir, it was the Queen. 
Ninus. 
What madness is it, so by separation 
The force to weaken, that if now the foe 
Should chance to see us, either part were lost ! 
Who planned the whole manoeuvre ? 
Otanes. 

Sir, the Queen. 
Ninus. 
Where is this ever-ordering lady now ? 

D 



48 THE DAUGHTER ACT III. 

Otanes (pointing to the right). 

There at the farthest jutting of the hill, 
To view the force and setting of the foe : 
But soon, I think, she must be back again. 

Ninus. 
Send her to me, as soon as she comes back. 

Otanes (goes off to the right). 

Ninus. 

The Queen for ever, — and the Queen alone ! 

Ttrtdates. 
Yes, king, your love has raised her high indeed. 

Ninus. 

O not my love, my madness you should say. 

Tiridates. 
The sea of conquest is her true domain. 

Ninus. 
Did I not bear the rebel's scorn so long 
For this alone, to keep from out her way 
The magic realm in which she has such might ? 
Yet after all he forced me to a war. 

Tiridates. 
In Nineveh she could be better watch'd. 

Ninus. 
But Nineveh would be the worse for that. 
No, her ambition is so measureless, 
And her audacity so past all bounds. 
And then her beauty, yes, still more the soul 
That quite unearthly looks from out her eye, 
And of her words the unutterable glow 
Holds such an empire o'er all human minds, 
That I must keep her always in my eye. 

Otanes ( appears from the right). 
Here is the Queen. 

Ninus. 
Go, leave us, Tiridates, 
And have my tent prepared for my return. 

^Tiridates goes on the left.) 



SC. III. OF THE AIR. 49 



SCENE III. 

Semiramis in military costume and armed comes front 
the right. (Otanes goes.) Nik us. 

Semiramis. 
You, Ninus, here ? And I had given strict orders 
To lead you to the other regiment 
Which T had sent against the enemy. ■ 

Ninus. 
You had given orders ? 

Semiramis. 
Yes, for there was need. 
You were to take the leading of that force, 
Which, when I gave a signal from the height, 
Was to begin the battle from the front. 
This mountain-forest which impervious seems, 
Have 1 with my division overpast, 
And now 1 have the foe upon the rear, 
That when the fight is at the highest tide, 
1 may come down upon him and destroy him. 

Ninus. 
The plan is daring, but has this defect — 
That over-daring is fool-hardiness. 

Semiramis. 
No, king, not strength, but courage wins the day. 
To do things past belief, that is the way 
To chain the god of conquest to your standard. 

Ninus. 
To day however he may stay unchained : 
1 will not fight. 

Semiramis. 
How, king ? you will not fight ? 
Ninus. 
No, I will but negotiate. 

Semiramis. 

With the rebel ? 
Ninus. 
I'm weary of this war, and well may be : 
My half of life have I already spent 
d 2 



50 THE DAUGHTER ACT III. 

In never-ceasing wars and long campaigns: 
So often conquered, stormed so many forts, 
So many realms subdued, that nothing now 
Can add new triumphs to the world's great king. 

Semi ram is. 
The world's great king? To prove it send your orders 
Beyond the Indus or the laxartes, 
And see what reverence they will pay you there. 

Nixus. 
I would not reign beyond the Indus' stream : 
In that dread land of monsters, where the gods 
On earth appearing, govern all themselves, 
And kings are but the viceroys of their will. 

Semiramis. 
So long as there exist free kings on earth, 
So long thou art not the great king. There must, 
As in the heaven above o'er all the gods 
One all-controulling rides, so here on earth 
Be one great king o'er all the world supreme. 

NlXUS. 

So may my son the works that I have left 
Continue and accomplish. 

Semiramis. 
Ninyas ? 
That quiet child that always looks so mild, 
That suffers any thing, obeys each word, 
Gives up whate'er he's ask'd ? O no, in him 
Dwells no heroic, no commanding soul. 



SCENE IV. 

Arzidas, Otaxes, and other Officers appear. The 
above. 

Arzidas. 
Queen, all is ready as you had arranged : 
Now do you choose that we should give the sign, 
At which Arbaces shall begin the fight ? 



SC. IV. OF THE AIR. 51 

Semiramis. 

No Arzidas, the king forbids to fight. 

Arzidas. 
My royal liege, permit to your true servant 
This time a free expression : We must right: 
As now we stand, we're certain of success. 

Semi ram is 
{speaks aside to one of the Officers upon which he goes). 

NlNUS. 

Go ! send Arbaces my command to bring 
His forces back, and at the farther side 
Of yonder mountain wait till w^e arrive. 

Otanes. 
O then destruction is a certainty. 
Arzidas. 
It is impossible. 

Officers and others. 
It is indeed. 
Ninds. 
What is impossible when the King wills it ? 

Semiramis. 
Impossible that to the mountain source 
From whence it rose, the stream again should turn : 
Impossible that from the desert sand 
The poisonous wind should raise a bed of flowers : 
That night should be, when in the noontide sky 
The sun shines forth, and day when he is fled : 
That is impossible, though the king wills it. 
So seek no more to stop the matter's course. 
Otanes (pointing to the right). 
Ha, see the signal's blaze! 

Semiramis. 

Yes, by the gods ! 
Arzidas. 
Now sets Arbaces on. 

Semiramis. 

And will be beaten. 
Nixus. 
And with his life atone for doing that 
Which he had not his king's command to do. 



52 THE DAUGHTER ACT III, 

Semiramis (throwing herself at his feet J, 
O I entreat you, do permit us, king, 
To seize the victory ! 

The Officers (also kneeling J. 
O permit it, king ! 
NiNUS, 
I'll have no victory. Forth from out my sight ! 

Semiramis (sjwinging ypj. 
But / will have a victory • what I plan 

That shall as sure a splendid exit find : 
And not a power that lives of god or man 

Shall dare in slavish chains my arm to bind. 
Already bathes in our compatriots' blood 

The foe victorious ! hear his shouts resound ! 
In vain their desperate valour stems the flood, 
Superior numbers drive them from the ground. 
(she draws her sword J 
On to their rescue ! gain we first our ends, 

Then let the king our blood in forfeit claim : 
Who conquest-crown'd destruction underwends. 

Obtains in death the eternal life of Fame. 
On with me heroes, on into the fight ! 
The Queen leads on before ! 

Officers (drawing their swords), 
We follow \ 

Arzidas. 
Even to death's eternal night. 
Semiramis. 
The Queen leads on before ! 

(She rushes forth. All the Officers follow her.) 



SCEXE \\ 

Nixus [alone after a pause). 

Am I yet king or not? Has the crown dropped 
From off my bead, that thus rebellion dares 
With open face to walk before my eyes ? 



SC. V. OF THE AIR, 53 

Her aim is clear : she mocks my sovereignty, 

Defames my son, to open for herself 

A passage to the throne. My officers, 

My army, nobles, courtiers, all my subjects 

Has this enchantress twin'd her nets around. — 

And what have I relinquish' d, cast away, 

That I might bring this curse upon my head ! 

O was I in my senses at the time ? — 

She loves me not. To love she cannot yield : 

And well she knows the poniard how to wield. 

(Men~on comes forward listening to the month of the 
Cave, at the sound Ninus turns about, sees him, 
and starts hack in terror.) 

Ninus (with a frightful shriek J. 

horror ! Menon's ghost ! away — away !— 
Back to the abyss ! 

(Menon goes back into the Cave.) 

Pale frightful spectre-form 
? Tis vanish' d — sunk into its native night — 
No ! no ! — there still it stands like stiffened death — 

1 am thy king — begone ! — O with the rage 
Of tigers, with the hate of basilisks, 

The poisonous glance of serpents, look at me, 

Not with the empty excavated eye ! 

No — he's not there — I am alone. — Yet there, 

There in the cave's dark mouth I saw him stand, 

As sure as here I see these rocks and trees. 

My soul is frozen — from my inmost heart 

A deathlike horror streams in all my limbs, 

And shoots in icy lightning through my veins, 

So terrible lay in that ghastly field 

The hollow graves of his extinguished eyes — 

Why, horrid spectre, cam'st thou here ? to tell me 

That the fulfilling of thy curse is near ? 

Yes, my last hour is near, I feel even now 

The icy hand of death upon my cheeks, 

The dagger's point already at my breast, 

The poison's sting already in my veins. 

No! I will profit by this warning's light, 



M THE DAUGHTER ACT III. 

Thy hateful pleasure, serpent, to destroy, 
Thy promised triumph in the bud to blight, 

And turn to fatal woe thy transient joy. 
This hour of darkness shall decide the strife, 
Which thou or I must bid farewell to life. 

{He goes off vehemently to the left.) 



SCENE VI. 

The Tent of the King in another part of the Valley 
Several Attendants are busied with the arrangement 
of the Tent, They lay out a Table with Wine, and 
an Ottoman, 

Enter Tiridates. 

TlRIDATES. 

Make haste about your business ! that the head 
Of royalty no longer be exposed 
To elemental insolence a prey. 
{The Attendants go off after having set every thing 
in order.) 
A courtier's path is ever one of thorns. 
Still more and more each day the king and queen 
Split into contraries : and these cross roads 
Perplex the traveller on his doubtful way. 
I fear, my king, if this goes on much more, 
You'll stand more single than you had supposed. 



SCENE VII. 
Enter Ninus hastily. Tiridates. 

Ninus. 

I wanted thee. 

Tiridates. 
What would my lord and king ? 






SC. VIII. OF THE AIR. 55 

Ntnus. 
The first of all my servants, Tiridates, 
Art thou to me, for thy fidelity 
Has not as yet this sorceress of all hearts, 
S emir amis, been able to destroy, 
And therefore now, as oft before, I lay 
A trust of great importance in thy hand. 

TlRI DATES. 

The king commands, his servant will obey. 

Ninus (giving him a ring from hisjinger). 

Here, take this ring: beneath its glittering stone 
A deadly poison sleeps ; awake it thou ! 
The queen will come back weary from the field, 
In need of rest — of sleep — this recipe 
In wine dissolved, brings speedy, lasting sleep : 
So when she comes, and I call for the cups, 
Reach thou to her in one that sleeping draught, 
The last she'll need. Thou hear'st me. 
Tiridates. 

Yes, my king. 
Ntnus. 
Well then ! thy life stands surety for her death. 

(He goes.) 



SCENE VIII. 

TimvATEsalone . 

O terrible commission ! Woe to me ! 
How great a burden is a despot's trust ! 
She ne'er has honour'd me, because the king 
To me more partial than to all beside, 
Has always in the palace and the tent 
Kept me beside himself, remote from war : 
Yet never has she harm'd me, never wrong' d. 
Who knows but I perhaps might prosper more 



56 THE DAUGHTER ACT III. 

Within her sunshine, than the sovereign's shade- 

(looking at the ring) 
Deceitful ring, true image of a court, 
That boldest death and ruin in thy brightness ? 
Shall I imprison what thy splendour holds 
That Life's divinest splendour may expire ? 
Well know I, what reward for such a deed 
The orderer of 't himself is wont to pay : 
And yet T must. The saving of the queen 
Were my destruction : and even in good deeds 
To have enjoyment, is there need of life. 
One only — since the king my life has made 
Itself the hostage of her death to stand — 
One only chance remains — the king instead — 
No that I cannot dare — obey I must. 
How great a burden is a despot's trust ! 
{He goes to the table, and Jills two cups, in one of 

which he pours the poison : then sets them both in 

order on a tray. J 
The cups are filled— the final hour at hand : 
How deatb and life in fearful contact stand ! 
I will do nothing — let the gods provide ! 
'Tis theirs the strife of sovereigns to decide. 
(Drwns and Trumpets without: thereupon soon 
appears) 



SCENE IX. 
Semiramis led by Xixus; Tiridates. 

Ninus. 

Welcome, fair conqueror ! welcome from the field 
Into my tent of peace ! 

Semiramis. 

Forgive me, king.. 
That I have won this fight against your will. 
And blame not those who shared its fame with me ! 



SO. X. OF THE AIR. 57 

Nix us (aside). 
O hypocrite ! 

Tiridates (aside also). 
O generous noble mind ! 

NlNUS. 

No more of that ! the cups here, Tiridates, 
Till I salute my brave new general. 
(Tiridates brings the cups and presents them kneel- 
ing to Semiramis.) 
Semiramis. 
You too here, noble Tiridat ? 'Tis long 
Since I have seen you. Rut your faithful zeal 
Keeps you attendant ever on the king ; 
Else would you shine in arms among the best. 
You have already crowned me many a cup, 
And of my favour yet no mark obtained ; 
Y'et riper is the fruit that's later pluck' d. 

(She is going to take the cup. Tiridates turns the 
tray so as to present to her the other cup. He 
then, also kneeling, presents to Ninus the remain- 
ing one.) 

Ninus. 
Long live the conqueress ! (He drinks.) 

Semiramis. 
Long live my king ! (She drinks.) 
(Tiridates takes back the cups. ) 
Ninus. 
Now, Tiridates, leave us : to the tent 
Let none approach : You only, stay in hearing. 
(Tiridates bows and goes.) 



SCENE X. 

The above. Later, Tiridates, 

Ninus. 
Well, has the rebel found his end at last ? 



58 THE DAUGHTER ACT III, 

Semtramis. 
He has : and such a death as well became 
The desperate valour of his daring mind : 
His army is destroyed, the war is ended, 

NlNUS. 

Now we return to Nineveh again. 
Semi ram is. 
Yes, to our prison, which howe'er adorn'd 
With all the riches of the conquer' d earth 
Is still a prison. 

NlNUS. 

Nineveh a prison ! 
That glorious city in whose spacious streets 
A host might stand arrayed: beneath whose walls 
The Tigris rolls his proud resplendent stream : 
The wonder of the Asiatic world — 
Is that not worthy of a sovereign's throne? 

Semtramis. 
No ! in my mind alone the town I see 
That worthy is a sovereign's throne to hold. 
A hundred gates admit the enterer in, 
And fifty streets rectangularly cross ; 
Within its firm -built walls a nation dwells, 
Whose tenth to form a mighty army goes ; 
As heaven above in equal halves divides 
The white star- glittering way : so parts my town 
A broad resplendent river's watery road. 
And on the orient margin of the stream 
The temple sacred to the gods ascends : 
So near to heaven, the sacrificial flame 
Licks heaven's blue ceiling with its fiery tongue. 
This facing right, the royal palace rears 
Its front majestic on the western shore, 
In seven gigantic steps (the number of 
The wandering stars) ascending from the wave, 
Each single step a palace in itself: 
Its gates the number of the Zodiac signs, 
And twelve times thirty its resplendent halls ; 
And each, not roof 'd with unproductive stone, 
But with a flowering garden's spacious floor, 






SC. X. OF THE AIR. 59 

Where water springing coolness pours around, 

And palm-born odours breathe through all the place, 

The eye sees forth to ocean's distant bound, 

From which the Sun each morn begins his race. 

NlNUS. 

foolish dreamer ! will thy boundless mind 
Still dwell and revel in immensity, 

Still finding nothingness in all this world, 
And building worlds in real nothingness ? 
Reflect, the space within whose lasting bounds 
One hour you must, the next you may be laid, 
Is scarcely wider than your cradle was. 

Semiramis. 
You mean in Death. Yes, that will truly come : 
You earth-born beings dread it, and with reason. 
You to the gloomy regions of the shades 
It sends, where life is but a misty dream, 
A bitter longing for the life you left : 
Me to the splendours of the ethereal sky. 
Home to my mother will I wing my flight, 
Soar in free air above the golden stars, 
And further see than mortal eye can gaze. 

NlNUS. 

Well then, fair goddess, now prepare thy wings 
For that glad flight : for know that thou art poisoned. 

Semiramis [seized with terror). 
Oh — am I — poisoned dead ? 

NlNUS. 

Thou fear'st not death, 
Semiramis (recovering herself, with Jirmness). 

1 do not fear it. 

NlNUS. 

And art yet turn'd pale ? 
Semiramis. 
Even at the friend, that unexpected comes, 
The soul is startled, and the face grows pale. 

NlNUS. 

You conquered me this morning by your word, 
And by my poison now I conquer you. 



60 THE DAUGHTER ACT III- 

Semiramis. 
Yes, these are thy heroic victories ! 
Thus hast thou once already conquered Men on, 
So dost thou conquer now Semiramis, 

And steal the laurels which thou can'st not buy. 

NlNUS. 

Where am T ? Heaven defend me ! — what a flame ! — 
A raging stream of rlre runs through my breast 
And overflows my brain— my senses swim— 
(He falls back on the ottoman.) 
Oh ! oh ! my brains are springing from my head — 

Semiramis. 
Swift is the vengeance that from Heaven descends : 
You boasted of your conquest over me, 
And now the gods requiting, conquer you. 

NlNUS 

No ! — no ! 1 have been poisoned 

Semiramis {coming near hiiri). 

Poisoned, You ? 
Xixus (trying to push her away). 
Off, off — assassin ! — Traitor — Tiridates — 

Semiramis. 
He's raving, 

NlNUS. 

O my head ! 

Semiramis (calling). 

Here, Tiridates ! 
Tiridates enters. The King draws oat his dagger 
with a convulsive effort, as if he meant to throw it 
at Tiridates, but immediately falls back on the 
ottoman and dies. 

Semiramis (as Xinus is falling lack J. 
The king is dying. 

Tiridates {going up to him). 
He is dead already- 
Semiramis. 
And what was his death caused by? 

Tiridates (kneeling before her J. 

Take my head. 
Imperial mistress, only hear me first. 



SC. X. OF THE AIR. 61 

This fatal ring winch thou must doubtless know, 

Contain' d a deadly poison which the king 

Commanded me to give thee in thy wine. 

The servant must obey : one cup contained 

That draught which he who drinks, ne'er thirsts again ; 

The gods alone directed then thy hand, 

And gave the undissembling cup to thee. 

Semiramis. 
And knew'st thou which was poisoned ? 

TlRTDATES. 

Yes, my queen. 
Yet could I warn thee not, I could alone 
Commit to Heaven the question to decide, 

Semiramis. 
Thanks that ye so decided, sovereign gods ! 

(to Tiridates) 
Stand up ! I ktfow not which, to punish you 
As guilty of the murder of your king, 
Or to reward you, as the instrument 
By which the gods have kept that doom from me. 

Tiridates. 
That question, queen, dispose of when thou wilt : 
Now give to weightier thoughts thy lofty mind. 
The crown is now upon a dead man's head — 

Semiramis. 
Take it away ! It is not for the dead. 
(Tiridates takes the crown from the king, and lays 
it on the cushion which is under his head.) 

Tiridates. 
Thou, great imperial mistress, now our queen. 
Our king art now. 'Command'st thou that I go, 
And summon here the chiefs within the tent ? 

Semiramis. 
Yes, go ! inform them what has taken place. 
(Tiridates goes. Semiramis contemplates awhile 
the dead body of the king, then takes the crown 
from the cushion,) 
Thou wreath of earthly sunbeams, sacred orb, 
Thou image of the eternal light, whose beam 
Dispels Night's reign of Chaos, and restores 



62 THE DAUGHTER 



ACT III. 



The new creation to the beaming Day ! 
Not on my head shalt thou, Existence' Sun, 
Eclipse experience : Thy resplendent blaze 
Shall not grow pale amidst a vapoury sea : 

No, works shall it accomplish, great and fine, 
In which the world to latest times shall see 

How bright thou shonest in my Zodiac's sign. 

(A noise before the tent : she lays the crown down 
again on the cushion : soon after enter) 



SCENE XI. 

Tiridates, Arbaces, Arzidas, Otanes, and other 
Officers. Semiramis. 

Semtramis (standing at the head of the king). 
See, chieftains, here the body of your king, 
Whom heavenly justice has requited thus. 
My death he sought by poison to contrive, 
But me the Immortals' power preserved alive, 
His murderous hand against himself inclined, 
And gave to him the draught for me designed. 
Since now the gods have this election made, 

And reach' d to him, not me, the poison-wine, 
Their verdict have they to the world displayed, 

And on my head ordain'd this crown to shine. 

(She takes the crown and sets it on her head.) 

I take it on, because the gods I trust, 
And you, revere their verdict in the dust. 

(All throw themselves with the exclamation 

" Hail Queen Semiramis '!", 

at her feet.) 

END OF THE THIRD ACT. 



ACT IV. OF THE AIR. 63 



ACT IV. 



SCENE I. 

The hanging Gardens in Babylon. In the distance 
the view of the Temple of Be las, 

Semiramis sitting, Mylitta behind her. Tiridates, 
Tissaphernes, Arzidas and others on her left. Be- 
fore her on their knees eight tributary Kings. 

(Tiridates approaches the Queen — at a sign from 
her and after she has spoken to him aside, he turns 
to the kneeling Kings.) 

Tiridates. 
The world's great queen remains as they deserve 
To all her subjects mild : — You are dismissed. 
{After the kings have gone away, Tiridates also and 
the rest withdraw themselves at a sign from Semi- 
ramis.) 

Semiramis 
{after a pause of reflection). 
O nugatory gain of so much toil, 
Of vanish' d flowers the stale corrupted fruit ! 
{She sinks again into reflection?) 
Mylitta. 
There stands the finish 'd wonder of the world, 
The lofty Babylon, as you, great queen, 
Had often seen it in your mind before. 
A hundred gates admit the enterer id, 
And fifty streets conduct him through the town, 
These from the orient to the setting Sun, 
Those from the Boreal midnight to the noon. 
As parts the heaven in two the milky way, 



64 THE DAUGHTER ACT IV. 

So parts your town Euphrates' kingly stream. 
There to the south the wond'rous Tower ascend?. 
Here to the west the Palace spreads its pride. 
And on its high and parapeted roof 
We walk amid the spreading pahtigrove's shade, 
And far in distance roves the unbounded view. 

S EMIR AM IS. 

Yes, far away ! far to the morning land ! 

Mylitta. 
And you, the artist of this wondrous work. 
You view it coldly with a joyless eye. 
Of what avail is all of great or fair 
That cannot fill with joy the owner's heart ? 

Semiramis. 
Yes, but man's works impoverish themselves, 
For what is done no more remains to do. 
And all his works are mere abortive births, 
And dwarfish shapes, in fancy fair indeed, 
But when presented in Reality, 
Diminished and disfigured. Did I not 
Intend to build that temple to the clouds ? 
And now I must leave off, because, they say, 
The feeble earth could bear no farther load. 
Poor abject earth, that nothing great can bear! 
(A short pause : she turns to the East.) 
There ! there ! from whence the silent solemn stars 
Send us the earliest greeting of the morn, 
There will I find a fairer, happier earth, 
And to that world will I transplant my throne. 

Mylitta. 
Why to the morning, not the evening, clime, 
Where all the land lies subject to thy sway? 

Semiramis. 
Xo ' to the Orient my direction lies. 
As lately here amid the silent night 
I sat. overshadowed with a deathlike gloom, 
All of a sudden was the eastern sky 
O'erspread with seven-hued light, and from the light 
A glittering palace rose before my view. 
The portals opened, and I saw the king 



SC. II. OF THE AIR. 65 

Upon Lis throne : his face was like a suA, 

His hair, its rays : his robe, the firmament. 

He opened the peach-crimson of his mouth, 

And thus he spoke : " The monarch of the east 

" Salutes the empress of the west, his bride. 

i6 Elected, come, with me the throne to share, 

"On which, so will the heavenly destinies, 

" We two shall rule the whole surrounding globe/ 7 

So spake the vision, and I sprung aloft 

In transport glowing : but the light was fled : 

Palace and throne and king had disappeared. 

Each evening hope again conducts me here : 

I stay till late; night sinks o'er earth and sea, 

But none again brings back that sight to me. 

Mylitta. 
Dreams will not come for wishing. 

Semiramis. 

Silence, fool ! 
To your low minds I know it seems a dream, 
When heaven, to guide our erring ways aright, 
Reveals the future in prophetic sight. 
He lives ! I feel the impatience of desire, 

No pleasure charms, for nothing can I care ; 
To the bright Orient all my thoughts aspire, 

There my belov'd's magnificence to share. 
For this to Indus will I take my course, 

Will bridge the dark tumultuous Ganges o'er, 
O'erthrow the realms that would oppose my force, 

And see at last himself on India's shore. 



SCENE II. 

The above. Tiridates enters. Mylitta goes* 

Tiridates. 
Forgive me, queen, that I must here intrude 
To bring you tidings of unwelcome news. 

Semiramis. 
The sovereign's ear hears seldom welcome news. 



66 THE DAUGHTER ACT IV. 

TlRlDATBS. 

You know already that the public mind, 
Both lords and people, has this long time back 
Been strong against you. 

S EMIR AMIS. 

Yes, I know it has. 
The army likes me not, because that I 
By them in peace have built this Babylon, 
A work of splendour past the thought of man : 
Because I have not, robber-like, despoil* d 
The conquered nations, to o'erpay with gold 
The meanest follower in my army's train. 
The lords are angry that a woman rules, 
And that this woman guides the empire's reins 
\N ith fitter hands and abler than a man: 
That I, as men with wilful horses do. 
Have put a curb upon their lawless wills : 
And trusted none with any greater power 
Than I have learn* d that he can safely bear. 
Weil have I known all this — I have despised it. 

TlRIDATES. 

That, noble queen, you can no longer now. 

The malady, so long in silence nurst, 

Has broken out in palpable disease. 

The two chief satraps — of Assyria 

And Media, Belesis and Xabonnid, 

Against you have revolted, and the son 

Of Xinus, whom in Nineveh you left, 

Have called to be their king, and much I fear 

There will be many more to join their side. 

Semiramis, 
A child so bold ! — yet no, 'tis not his fault, 
Poor little boy. — E'en were the act his own, 
I would not blame him still : he was a child 
I never lov'd : and what for him I did, 
I did for him but as the prince and heir : 
For pale tho' be the star, the night will come, 
When it the sun's set splendour must supply. 
The robbers wait with longing for this night, 
They hasten. I will therefore not delay 
An army to collect. Call here my chiefs ! 



SC. II. OF THE AIR. 67 

Yes, tho' a god in all his glory came, 
Their grovelling souls would treat him with disdain. 
Force only can controul them. Well, they shall 
Experience force, since 'tis their own desire. 

(A short pause. J 
My army once in order, I set out, 
And, Tiridates, to thy care and trust 
Do T deliver Babylon. 

Tiridates. 

O Queen ! 
What joy that earth can give comes near to this, 
By faithful service to deserve thy praise ? 

Semiramis. 
I always yet have found thee true and wise; 
Thou sit'st in counsel even next myself, 
And not the greatest chieftains of my train 
Can boast a higher favour to enjoy. 

Tiridates. 

how much happier is my lot than theirs ! 
They see thee only in the field and light, 
There art thou known but as the warrior- queen, 
And fierce and gloomy is thy greatness there. 

1 see thee in thy palace 'peaceful shade, 
In the mild radiance of thy gentler mind: 
For me but shines that light that dazzles them, 
Soft as the moonlight through thy beauty's veil. 

Semiramis. 
Extremely tuneful have I found your words 
Since many a moon. You speak about my beauty : 
Does then the Queen seem beauteous to her servant? 

Tiridates. 
So long as not from her an angry look 
His eye-sight dazzles, no contemptuous word 
From out her mouth annihilates his hearing. 

Semiramis. 
And could he of her favour now obtain 
x\ higher measure still, how would he prove 
That she indeed is lovely in his eyes? 

Tiridates. 
By doing — any thing that she would ask. 



68 THE DAUGHTER ACT IV. 

Semiramts. 

If she should say now : Go, for me destroy 
That youthful tree, that from my shaded flower 
The sunshine intercepts. Would he do that? 

TlRIDATES. 

He might indeed lament the sapling's fate, 
Yet would he go and her command fulfil. 
Semiramis. 

That proof is yet too weak : the danger here 
Is to another, not the actor's self. 

(She calls him to the balustrade in the back ground. ) 

Now said she : See'st thou in the depth below 
Euphrates? there this handkerchief 1 throw. 

(She throws her handkerchief over the balustrade J 

Quick ! after it, and bring it to me back. 

Tiridates {shrinking back). 
Why that were certain death ! 

Semikamis. 

That death one tear 
Of her fair eye would mourn and consecrate. 

Tiridates, 
She said that jesting. 

Semiramis. 

No, she did not jest, 
But to the coward boaster did she say, 
Poor abject slave ! adventurous in crime, 
In generous daring backward and afraid! 
This first presumptuous offer I forgive, 
But let once more a word, a look betray 
That in thy slavish soul the thought yet lives 
In thy high Queen to find a lovely bride, 
Well rest assured that you that instant go 
tvrthank'd, wmnourn'd, to yonder depths below. 
(She goes.) 
Tiridates (just going). 
These words to me ? Ha, proud imperial dame ! 
My vengeance yet shall teach you who I am. 
(He goes.) 



SC. III. OF THE AIR. 69 

SCENE III. 

The Royal Tent in the Ca?np of Semiramis. 

Several Officers, led by Tissapherxes and Arzidas, 
come in : later Semiramis. 

TlSSAPHERXES. 

Do you stay here till I inform the queen 
That I have brought together all the troops 
As she desired. 

{He goes off to the right.) 

An Officer (to Arzidas). 
Commander, do you know 
For what intent the queen has brought us here ? 

Arzidas. 
We stand already in the rebels' face : 
What therefore has the queen to do but say, 
On to the fight ! 

Officer. 
'Twill be a desperate strife : 
Too many recreant have deserted us : 
We stand by this time scarcely one to ten. 

(Semiramis and Tissaphernes come in on the right : 
the bystanders arrange themselves in order, and 
salute the Queen?) 

Semiramis. 
Welcome, ye faithful followers of your queen ! 
Now lend an ear to what I have to say. 
As men with pearls the diamond cireumvest. 
Have I enchased the kernel of my realm 
With smaller realms around by conquest gain'd. 
The regions that the western ocean bounds 
Within my empire lie ; their sovereigns 
My subjects are, and tribute to me pay. 
This giant work, stupendous Babylon 
Have J erected. Have erected there, 
From whence my ships Euphrates proudly bears 
Far to Arabia's gold and spice fraught coast, 
And to the radiant Orient's diamond mines. 



70 THE DAUGHTER ACT IV. 

This have I done. It was for nought : in vain 

Have I this realm with fame and splendor crown'd : 

Assyria's grovelling herd are deaf to fame. 

Phraortes, Nabonnid and Belesis, 

And Nabonnassar, to whose government 

The richest lands in all my realms 1 gave, 

The kings of Lydia and Armenia, 

\Yho owe to me the throne, the life, they hold, 

Now turn against me, and a feeble child 

Elect to fill the office of their king, 

And treason hourly makes my numbers less. 

The foremost of my servants, Tiridates, 

Has now betrayed me, and to Ninyas 

Himself, his treasures, and his friends transferred. 

Since I do not the Immortals' lightning wield, 

Nor by my word from stones can warriors raise ; 

Since I will not profusely shed the blood 

Of my few faithful followers : since success 

Is now impossible : — I have advised 

With my most faithful servants, Tissaphern 

And Arzidas, and following their advice. 

I quit my cause and abdicate the throne. 

An Officer. 
No, queen, you must not ! 

Another. 

The advice is bad ! 

The First. 

Let us at least the chance of victory try. 

The Second. 
It is not hopeless. 

Semiramis. 

Peace ! A victory 
Of which Semiramis despairs, is hopeless. 
Hear of your Queen the last imperial word! 
Your chieftains Tissaphern and Arzidas 
To Ninyas shall lea.d you : follow them, 
And all whatever they command you, take 
From them as my last will. — Now all farewell ' 

(All the Officers depart.) 



SC. IV, OF THE AIR. 

SCENE IV. 

Semiramis, Tissaphernes, and Arzidas. 

Semiramis. 
Well, that is done : and in an hour from hence 
Mylitta in the royal palanquin 
Shall leave the camp in semblance of myself. 
Lead you the army then to Ninyas, 
And I disguised will follow in the rear. 
Tissaphernes. 

mistress ! great and daring is the thought, 
But much more perilous the accomplishment ; 
If this should fail, all hope is at an end. 

Semiramis. 
The timid fail, the daring force the stars. 
What else is left to do ? Say, Arzidas, 
Whom 1 ne'er knew to fear, can victory 
Be hoped if now we fight, or afterwards 
When us in Babylon the foe surrounds ? 

Arzidas. 
Not victory, glorious death ! 

Semiramis. 

That you may find 
At any time when you are so disposed : 

1 yet have something more on earth to do. 
Get all prepared ! the plan of our assault 

We first may think of when we see their camp. 

Trust for success ! the foe, in ease secure 

Themselves believing, will all care resign, 

And our allies are terror that subdues 

The might of strength, and fraud-befriending nigh 

(Tissaphernes and Arzidas go.) 

And if with sword and flame we conquer here, 
Then will I onward press to Indus' shore; 
For ere the faded leaves fall off the tree, 
As has the west, must yield the east to me. 

( She goes off to the right. J 

E 



THE DAUGHTER ACT IV. 



SCEXE V. 



The Camp of Ninyas. A Tent. An open space 
before the Royal Tent. In the Tent an elevated 
Seat of State . 

Time. — Twilight. 

Nixyas, dressed as King, sits upon a Seat of State; 
around him stand Tiri dates, Nergal, and Belesis, 
and other Satraps and Officers. — Tissapherxes and 
Arztdas kneel before him. 

NlNYAS (to Tissapheryies and Arzidas). 

Stand up ! You and your troops are welcome here ! 
Inform me now of all that has arrived. 

TlSSAPKERXES. 

Majestic sovereign of Assyria's throne ! 

We were the servants once of thy great father, 

While yet thy youthful inexperienced hand 

Was not matured the sceptre's weight to bear. 

But now that under heaven's protecting care 

Thou art attained to man : thy head adorned 

With the tiara that denotes \h.Q king, 

It were a crime to any else to give 

The service that belongs to thee alone. 

Accordingly, we offered to the queen, 

Who with her handful troops still vainly hoped 

Thy vast and powerful army to subdue, 

The resolution which so many shared. 

When she perceived herself left quite alone, 

She threw, the throne resigning in disdain, 

Her crown away, and straightway left the camp. 

Then to her palace at Euphrate set out, 

Where she had lived before she held the throne. 

NlXYAS. 

And none shall trouble her retirement there. 

Belesis. 
Tis need however that she should be watch'd. 



SC. V. OF THE AIR. 73 

TlRIDATES. 

That is nay plan and wish, my sovereign liege ; 
I ask it as a favour for myself. 

NlNYAS. 

No, no ! 'Tis true indeed I cannot love her, 
For I was always frightened when the dart 
Of her sharp eye fell on me ; but she still 
Has never done me hurt : I will requite it.— 
And so in anger she forsook the camp ? 

Arzidas. 
She did so, king : and we thereon informed 
The troops of our intention to betake 
Ourselves to thee, our rightful lord and king. 
The soldiers followed with alacrity, 
And all through us salute thee as their lord. 

Ninyas. 
I thank you, chiefs, I thank you ardently, 
For your fidelity has closed the war 
Without a drop of blood being shed. T hate 
All bloodshed : and I thank the immortal gods 
That they through you have spared me this distress, 
You Belesis and Nabonnid and all 
The other chiefs, desire your men that they 
The new-come troops shall brother-like receive. 
For brother-like shall love who me would serve. 
Bright shines the evening star and calls to rest. 
You are dismissed from watch : so all good night ! 
Enjoy sweet sleep secure, since smiling peace 
Has now released us from the cares of war. 

{He stands iqj. All hut Nergal withdraw.) 



SCENE VI. 
Ninyas and Nergal. 

Ninyas. 
You see now, Nergal, that your fears were vain 
You wanted to persuade us to defer 
Our march against the queen until the satraps 
Of Bactra and of Sogd, Arbaces and 
e2 



'4 THE DAUGHTER ACT IV 

Otanes, had declared for us, and look ! 

The victory's won without a sword being drawn. 

Xergal. 
I thank the gods that it has ended so. 
And yet I own I do not trust these men, 
This Tissaphernes and this Arzidas. 

Xixyas. 
Nay why not trust them ? Of their own accord 
They have come here, have sworn allegiance to me. 
Nor saw I ought of falsehood in their eyes. 
I pray you send these idle fears away ! 
V\ hy will you when the gods accord us rest, 
•Still find new means your fancy to disturb? 

Xergal. 
The gods preserve thee ! If this resignation 
Is in good faith, then are you king at once. 

XlNYAS. 

I wonder shall I now sleep better. Xergal ? 
Fve slept but little and uneasily 
Since I have been a king: for every time 
I closed my eyes, before me stood the queen, 
And frightened me with her tremendous look. 
You know, I never coveted the throne. 
I was so happy there in Nineveh : 
There never failed with every morning's dawn 
Some new delight, and every evening's close 
Rock'd me with grateful weariness to rest. 
I was so happy there with all my friends, 
Beloved by them and loving them in turn. 
Ah that my fate had let me there remain ! 
'3; it come ! 'tis time that we retire to rest. 
The night is in, and all the camp is still. 

(He goes into the Tent : Xergal foUoivs. J 



SCEXE VII. 
Two Officers come before the Tent on guard. 
First Officer. 
v'an you believe this news, friend, that the queen 
Despairing victory has resigned the throne ? 



SC. VII. OF THE AIR. J 

ft 

Second. 
Yes, she has yielded to superior force. 

First. 
Semiramis? T have fought under her 
In thirty fields, and never did she count 
The number of the foe. I don't believe it. 

Second. 
Now that she's done it tho', we must believe it. 
But 1 am sorry. Victory and fame, 
As faithful serfs, went always at her side. 
She was the star that brought us golden time. 
What have we now? A changeless wasted life, 
x\nd over us a satrap government. 

{A sound of arms heard far off in the distance.) 

First. 
There you are right. — but hark ! Heard you th 
noise ? 

Second. 
It sounded like the distant clash of arms. 

First, 
It cannot be. 

( Trumpets sound in the distance.) 

Second. 
Hear ! hear ! the trumpets' sound ! 
First. 
Do you see there that fire ? 

Second. 

'Tis in the camp. 
First. 
We must awaken Nergal. 

Second. 

You say right. 

[He goes into the Tent.) 

First. 
The flame increases — all is in a blaze — 
The wide reflection lightens all the plain — 

(The refection of the f re is seen J 

And ever nearer sounds the clash of arms. 



76 THE DAUGHTER ACT IV. 



SCEXE VIII. 

Nergal rushes out of the Tent. The Officer and 
an Attendant follow. The above, then a Third 
Officer. 

Nergal. 
O gods! what is the matter? 

First Officer. 

'Tis a fire. 
(A third Officer rushes in.) 
Third Officer. 
Perdition! treason! — Belesis has sent me. — 
The Queen is in the camp — and right and left 
The traitor bands that came to us as friends 
With sword and flame are wasting all around, 
(He runs off again,) 

Nergal (to the attendants). 
Run, wake the King ! 

(to the second. Officer) 

Give orders instantly 
To bring the horses here that we may fly ! 

(The Attendant goes into the Tent: the Officer of to 
the left.) 

My ill presentiment was not in vain. 

O ye all-powerful gods preserve the king ! 



SCENE IX. 



Ninyas without robe and head dress rushing out of the 
Tent. Two attendants follow. The above. 

Ninyas. 
Is't true? betray'd ? the Queen within the camp ? 

Nergal. 
Prince, on your life delay no longer here ! 
In flight alone all hope of safety lies. 

(He pulls Ninyas away with him to the left.) 



SC. XI. OF THE AIR. 77 

First Officer. 
In this bold deed I recognise again 
Our glorious Queen ! away! away to her! 

(He disappears in the distance.) 



SCENE X. 

77*6? back ground Jills with the Soldiers of Ninyas in 
flight, Belesis tries to encourage them. Soon after 
them Tiri dates. All are lightly dressed without 
armour, many without helmets. 

Belesis. 
It is a woman and a handful men. 
Stand to ! let us defend the royal tent ! 

(Tiridates comes from the left.) 
Tiridates. 
We are surrounded— there is no way out. 

Belesis. 
Stand! drive the traitors back ! 
Voices. 

The queen ! the queen ! 
Tiridates. 
I'm over: me she never can forgive. 

(drawing his dagger.) 
Be thine, her promised vengeance to defeat! 
No, by the gods ! she first shall cease to live, 
For death without revenge is incomplete. 
(He hides the dagger.) 



SCENE XI. 

Semiramis/t^ the right breaks through the crowd of 
the combatants. Officers and Soldiers follow her. 
The above. 

Semiramis. 

Down with your rebel swords before your queen! 

(All the soldiers of the opposite 'party throw away their 
arms. The most of them fall down, the rest fly.) 



78 THE DAUGHTER ACT IV. 

O fools ! o'er kingdoms do you want to rule ? 
How could you dare to trust yourselves to sleep, 
And know Semiramis was yet alive I 

TlRlDATES 

(goes up to the queen, kneels down before her, and lays 
his sword at her feet). 

Hail, ever conquering queen ! I lay my sword 
Down at your feet. 

Semiramis. 
Off, villian traitor I 

TlRlDATES 

(coming still nearer to her as he rises). 

Die! 
(He raises the dagger to stab her. She treads forward 
in his face with a commanding air.) 

Semiramis. 
What? wilt thou kill thy queen ? 

TlRlDATES 

(awe-struck, drops his hand, but recovers himself who 
he sees the soldiers going to seize him, and p lung r 
the dagger in his heart). 

Accursed heart! 
(He falls at the same tune and dies.) 

Semiramis. 
In over -haste he throws his life away, 
The stupid fool ! I would have left it him. 

(She goes forward, so that the body of Tiridates a. 
its removal is covered by the train of her soldiet 
Arzidas with soldiers comes from the left. Tiss 
phernes with others from the right.) 

Arzidas. 
The Assyrian troops have yielded up themselves, 
And Nabonnid has fallen in the fight. 

TlSSAPHERXES. 

Surrendered also has the Syrian host: 
Phraortes, wounded, has been prisoner made. 

Semiramis. 
And Belesis ? 



SC. XII. OF THE AIR. 79 

Belesis (kneeling). 
Here, queen, you have my head. 
Semiramis. 
I do not want your life : it is too vile. 
Yet will I hide you from the sun's aspect, 
That hates to view the face of such a wretch 

(At a sign she gives Belesis is led away?) 
The victor-queen forgives : let all go free ! 
For it is only natural that the weak 
Should wish to have a weakling for their king. 
Bring Ninyas to me. 

Officer, 
He is fled away. 
Semiramis. 
Is fled away ? Make haste and seek him out, 
That no mischance befal him in the fray. 
He may in Nineveh, as formerly, 
Enjoy himself in quiet undisturbed. 
For not for mine, but for my kingdom's gain 

Did I his title to the throne withstand: 
'Tis not the Crown that gives me power to reign, 
My splendour is not that of throne-command : 
Yes, were my state the rudest ever seen, 
I would be still Semiramis and queen. 

(She goes, all follow her.) 



SCENE XII. 



A Mountain-Forest, as in Act III, Scene I. 

Ninyas without his Role and Crown, leaning on 

Nergal, enters on the right. 

Ninyas. 
O let me rest — a little space — good Nergal — 
But for a moment — I can go no further.— 

(Nergal brings him to a tree and seats him there.) 

Ah, all my limbs are broken with fatigue — 

My mouth is parched — O could I get a drink ! — 



80 THE DAUGHTER ACT IV. 

I always watered well my garden's flowers— 
Ah that I now could get a drop myself! 

Nergal. 
Ah, my poor prince! I see no water near. 
But had you power to climb that little hill 

(jpointing to the left) 

I saw a cottage at the farther side. 

NlNYAS. 

Impossible ! my shoes are full of blood, 
And every stone I tread on burns like fire. 

sooner than endure that torment more 

1 will die here; can you do nothing for me? 

Nergal. 
Let not your courage sink so, Ninyas ! 
Remember you are the great Ninus' son. 

Nintas. 
What's that to me? I do not feel the less 
Pain, thirst and hunger. 

Nergal. 
See ! there is a cave. 
Remain you there concealed, I seek the hut; 
Perhaps within dwells hospitality. 

(while he is bringing Ninyas to the cave) 

Hark! I hear footsteps this way; let us haste. 

(Both go into the cave.) 



SCENE XIII. 



Menon and Alilat come into the foreground from 
the right. 

Alilat. 
Ah when I see how the indulgent gods 
Our herds and gardens make to prosper so, 
It gives me indescribable regret 
That thou shouldst have no eye the sight to enjoy. 



SC. XIII. OF THE AIR 81 

Menon. 

[f I receive no pleasure through my eye, 
Yet through my ear it enters to my soul, 
Because thy voice comes from a joyful heart. 

(Nergal appears at the mouth of the cave.) 

And yet, dear wife, to own to you the truth, 
I like to hear you speak of war and fight 
Much more than of our gardens and our herds. 

Nergal (to himself). 
How sounds that voice as one that I have known. 

Alilat. 
Ah, this same passion will betray thee yet. 
Menon. 

never fear ! they think no ill of that : 

The blind, they know, are fond of hearing talk, 
And talking too themselves. 

Nergal (to himself). 

'Tis he — 'tis Menon. 

1 will go up to him. 

(He comes near to Menon: aloud) 

The gods be with thee ! 
Menon. 
Thank thee for thy good wish, whoe'er thou art. 

Nergal. 
Yes, yes, thou art it, Menon, my dear friend! 

Menon. 
That am I not. 

Nergal. 
Dissemble not the name, 
Which still sounds dear to every valiant heart, 
Remember'st Nergal ? 

Menon. 
Wert thou he— 
Alilat. 

He is! 
Menon. 
Yes, now, if thou art Nergal, I am Menon. 

(He stretches out his arms, Nergal embraces him. J 



82 THE DAUGHTER ACT IV. 

Nergal. 
Tliou liv'st, my chieftain ! O how have the gods 
Preserved thy life ? 

Menon. 
By her whom there thou see'st. 
Remember 'st her ? 

Alilat. 

Well should he. 

Nergal 
(recogyxising her and throwing himself at her feet). 

Alilat! 
My royal mistress ! 

Alilat. 
And now Menon's wife. 

Nergal. 
My chieftain — and the sister of my king ! 
O happiness! how bloom'st thou out of ill ! 
But — how am I forgetting ! — to the cave! 
There lies, but scarcely living, Ninyas. 

Alilat. 
Ninyas, my brother's son? 

Nergal. 

Yes, Ninus' son. 
(Alilat hastes into the cave: Nergal follows.) 

Menon. 
How wonderful, and yet how wise ye rule 
This lower world, Immortals there above ! 
(Alilat and Nergal come back, bringing Ninyas.) 

Alilat. 
It is the child ! 1 know his face again ! 

Ninyas. 
O not in such a hurry — my feet bleed. 

Menon. 
Poor boy!— Say, Nergal, what has brought him here j 

Nergal. 
The queen has conquered, we escaped by flight. 

Mexox. 
Conquered? escaped by flight? O tell me all! 
(Menon and Nergal go aside to the right and 
speak loiv.) 



SO. XIII. x OF THE AIR. £ 

NlNYAS. 

Ah, let me sit down first of all ! 
Alilat. 

Yes, here, 
Upon this stone o'erspread with rusty moss. 

(She lets him sit down upon a piece of rock in the 
foreground to the left,) 

NlNYAS. 

Give me a drink: I am half dead with thirst! 

Alilat. 
(opening a basket which she has brought with her). 

Here, I have fruits: revive yourself with them ! 

Nergal. 
Our chieftains' fate to me remains unknown : 
For, as I said, we fled, first unpursued, 
But soon precipitately followed by 
The horsemen of the queen. In panic fear 
With added spurs we made our horses fly, 
Till us the forest's sheltering night received. 
We then from off our steeds, to leave no trace, 
Dismounted in the thicket of the wood, 
And winding on through thickets and through thoi 
And clambering over stones and tangled roots, 
We reached at length this vale, and little dream' d 
How great a fortune was to find us there. 

NlNYAS. 

How good these fruits are ! I am quite revived. 
But who art thou that thus so lovingly 
Attend'st and serv'st me? 

Alilat. 
Dost thou then not know m 

NlNYAS. 

No certainly: when have I ever seen thee ? 
Alilat. 

Remember' st thou thy father ? 

NlNYAS. 

O quite well. 
He went out once to war and came not back. 



84 THE DAUGHTER ACT IV, 

Alilat. 
I am king Ninas 9 sister, Alilat. 

Xinyas. 
The name I know full well — my father's sister ; 
But Alilat is dead. 

Alilat. 
No, only hidden 
In this wild mountain forest. 

XlXYAS. 

Ye good gods ! 
O help me up. help me upon my knee ! 
That I may kiss the dust upon thy feet, 

(He kneels before her, she takes him in her arms.) 

Alilat. 
Come, rest thee in my arms, beloved child! 

Nergal. 
Arbaces and Otanes would have joined 
Themselves to us. if they had had but time. 
They would be ready still, if one in whom 
They could confide, should call them to the field. 
That one wert thou, 

Menon. 
I. Nergal ? I the blind ? 

(Alilat stands up, lets Ninyas take her place, and 
comes up to the men. Menon in the middle. J 

r\ERGAL. 

There stand a million eyes at thy command. 

That tbee the gods so wonderfully saved, 

More wonderfully us conducted here, 

That shews the path to thee by heaven assigned. 

The time is favourable. A campaign 

To India has Semiramis resolved. 

Menon. 
If she to India goes, then is she lost. 

Alilat. 
You know, dear Menon, that I always sought 
That rage for war, which like consuming thi 
In springless desarts oft tormented thee, 
To banish from thy breast. But now do I 



SC. XITI. OF THE AIR. 85 

Myself awake that hero-spirit up ! 

may it, as the sacred beam of heaven 
Pours o'er the world, so pour o'er all thy soul ! 
My heart foretells, our long-unsounded names, 
Like voices from the solemn graves, will wake 
The astonished nations with a portent's voice, 
And troops by thousands to our standards bring. 

(She brings Ninvas up, and lays him in Mexon's 
arms. J 

1 here give over to thy hero-arm, 

And to thy guarding care the royal orphan. 
His kingdom's right 1 give thy sword to guard. 

Mexon 

(taking Ninyas in his right arm, Alilat in his left), 

jBe he my son ! He is of blood with thee : 

What thou for me hast done will I repay, 

And thou shalt see I have indeed forgiven 

Thy brother for the death of both my eyes. 

Go to Arbaces, Nergal, to Otanes, 

To all the comrades of my happier days ; 

Say, Menon is arisen, and with him 

Their monarch's sister, Alilat ; they come, 

And Ninyas restore, their sovereign's son, 

By heaven protected, to his father's throne. 

Come ! come ! with thousands at this feast appear ! 

Your general calls, each guest is welcome here. 

(He treads with them a step forward.) 
Yes, once again in war and blood I go ! 
I there shall have Semiramis my foe. 
Well-pleased I set this dark existence down, 
For even my fall will greater glory crown. 

{All go off.) 
END OF THE FOURTH ACT. 



86 THE DAUGHTER ACT V 



ACT V. 



SCENE I. 

The Country on the Indus. 



On the right Side and in the Distance is a Part oft! 
Assyrian Army encamped. 

Arbaces, Otaxes, Generals, and Officers. 

Arbaces. 

Heaven is propitious to us now, young friend. 
Not Ninyas, Menon it is that will rule : 
His peaceful disposition and his blindness 
Are sureties that necessity alone 
Will call us into arms ; that we shall now 
Enjoy in peace what we have earn'd in war. 

Otaxes. 

Peace is it not, but fame which I desire, 
And that there is no earning with the queen. 
Whate'er you do, it all is laid to her, 
And you but toil to raise her fame the more. 

Voices {behind the scene). 

The general comes ! 

Otaxes (to the Officers). 

Make room ! 

Arbaces. 

Strike up the band ! 

( Th e Mu8 ic s ti ■ ik es iqi . ) 



SC. II. OF THE AIR. 8 

SCENE II. 

Menon led by Alilat on the left, by Ninyas on the 
right, comes with Nergal and Attendants. — 
Menon and Alilat in their original Dress. 

Soldiers. 
Hail, Menon, our commander ! 
Others. 

Menon live! 
Are aces. 
Hail Ninyas, Assyria's rightful lord I 

Otanes. 
And Alilat, the queen of faithful love ! 

Soldiers. 
Hail to them all ! 

(Menon makes a sign that he is going to speak: 
The Music ceases.) 

Menon. 

Thanks, valiant warriors ; grant the gods to you, 

In fullest measure, all you ask for me ! 

I bring you from the wilderness your king, 

Great Ninus' son, and your heroic zeal 

Will reinstate him in his father's throne : 

Will, do I dare to say ; for so the gods 

Assure us by the leading of the thing. 

To pallid misery was I given a prey, 

To ruin consecrated : in that time, 

The gods to me fidelity itself 

Sent in the person of this royal dame ; 

Her heart to pity moving, by her hand 

They led me forth into this desart's grave, 

Where I was sheltered and by her consoled 

Until the dawning of the happier time. 

The nobles' treachery drew the kingdom's heir 

From out her hand who robb'd him of his throne; 

A victory, an increase of her command 

Brought the dear youngling to me in the wild : 

And as the call went forth from out my grave, 

The unwonted name not in my friends alone, 



88 THE DAUGHTER ACT V. 

But in the people too moved every heart. 

Now leads, incited by her restless mind. 

The prudent queen her troops a new campaign 

To India, to the wonder-teeming land: 

x\ bridge's weight she lays on Indus' stream, 

And makes herself a path to her destruction. 

Soldiers. 
On, lead us, Menon ! 

(They draw their sivords.) 
Others. 
On, we're all prepared ! 

(They strike with the swords against their shields.) 

Menon. 

clang of arms, tornado in my breast ! 
Inspiring soul that speak'st from out the brass, 

1 feel the sounds intoxicate my sense; 

Not with the youngest warrior would I change: — 
Mistrust me not because my eye is dark, 
Because I see not how and where you fight. 
Within I am all light, light is my head, 
Light is my breast : a god within me dwells, 
And where the gods abide there all is light. 
I see already in my mental eye 

The shore of Indus and the armies' might, 
My word will lead you on to victory. 

And glory's blaze illuminate my night ; 
I see destruction take her on the way- 
Come ! come ! here needs no fear and no delay. 

(The Soldiers get ready with clashing of arms for 
setting out,) 

Sound the quick trumpet to the onset near ! 
Ripe waits the harvest in the southern land. 
(Trumpets.) 

Soon shall the echo vibrate to her ear, 
And let her know requital is at hand. 

(He goes with Altlat, Ninyas, Nergal, and his 
Train : then Arbaces, taxes, and the other 
Generals. Lastly, the Army, with martial music. 



SC. IV. OF THE AIR. 89 

SCENE III: 

The Country on the eastern Shore of the Indus. 

Enter an Assyrian Officer, with Train, from the 

left: an Indian Officer, with Train, 

from the right. 

The Assyrian 
{-planting a standard in the ground). 
Here do T plant the standard of the queen, 
Semiramis, the empress of the West, 
And peace it always brings where'er it comes. 

The Indian 
planting another standard over against that), 
x\nd here the standard of wise Samarija, 
To whom the immortal gods have give the rule 
Of all the spacious Orient, do I plant ; 
A sign of peace to all who on it look. 

The Assyrian {pointing to the left). 
Here comes Semiramis. 

The Indian (pointing to the right). 
Here Samarija. 



SCENE IV. 

Semiramis with a Train of Soldiers comes from the 
left. Samartja with a Train of Priests from the 
right. They each walk up to where their Standards 
stand. 

Samarija. 
Salutes thee Samarija, king of th' East. 

Semiramis. 
And thee Semiramis, queen of the West. 

Samarija, 
Propitious be the meeting to us both! 



90 THE DAUGHTER ACT" 

Semiramis. 
You wished to have me to a conference. 

Samarija. 
I did, that you may choose on peace or war. 

Semiramts. 
'Tis you that have to choose on peace or war. 
If you consent to yield you shall have peace, 

Samarija. 
You are but young, I therefore fatherlike 
Forewarn you not to rush upon destruction. 

Semiramis. 
Destruction ? Do you know Semiramis ? 

Samarija. 
I know both you and all about you well ; 
Your origin, your acts, and all your life. 
But you do not know us, else had you ne'er 
O'erstept the bounds of this mysterious land, 
The sacred Indus' stream. 

Semtramis. 

That land itself, 
The morning clime, shall bow beneath my sword. 

Samarija. 
That will it never ; and you may be glad 
That we are not a race to blood inclined, 
For else from this you never would return* 

Semiramis. 
Yes, w^ere your deeds as mighty as your words. 

Samarija. 
The word is warning, punishment the deed, 
And tyrants only punish ere they warn. 
With what, my daughter, would you conquer us ? 
My troops tenfold more numerous are than thine, 
Five hundred elephants before them tread, 
And they would trample all your army down. 

Semiramis. 
I will believe these wonders when I see them. 

Samarija. 
And even suppose you should o'ercome this force, 
Beyond it seven vast floods their streams oppose, 
And each of these beyond, so great an army ; 



'C. IV. OF THE AIR. 91 

And should'st thou even miraculously reach 

Victorious still, the Ganges' distant shore, 

There would'st thou see in strange and dreadful forms 

The gods ascend from out the sacred flood , 

And frenzy then thyself, thy host will seize, 

And in that frenzy thou wilt see destruction. 

Semiramis. 
i r ou talk in vain : you cannot teach me fear. 
Samartja. 
know you have a wond'rous longing for 
The eastern world : it is an idle wish. 
Te whom thou seekest dwells not on the earth ; 
Jne day, when through thy eye thou see'st no more, 
Shalt thou behold him, in another form. 
Therefore, my daughter, home return in peace. 

Semiramis. 
Thou speakest kingly, venerable sage, 
And deep-prophetic does thy warning sound. 
Yet in no mortal, in no god do I 
Put more reliance than in my own mind. 

Samartja. 
Thy own delusion, that inspires the thought 
Here where the gods have fixed their home, and where 
They act in person, still to hope for conquest. 
Themselves, th' immortals, meet'st thou in the field, 
And think'st thou, gods themselves to thee must yield ? 
Semiramis. 
Arrive what may, 1 am resolv'd for fame. 
But let ns now conclude this verbal war, 
And for the fiercer strife of arms prepare. 
Samarija. 
Let then today thy valour brightly flame ! 
For not with gods alone, I let thee know, 
Ev'n with the dead besides thou'lt have to do. 

(He goes ivith his Train. The Indian Officer takes 
his standard out of the ground, and follows him. A 
storm begins. 

Semihamis. 
Hven with the dead ? Strange enigmatic words, 



92 THE DAUGHTER ACT V 

Cold as the biting nightfrost ! Yet, if gods, 
If dead men fight, they also may be beat : 
Stay up, my heart ! What dost thou fear to meet ? 

(As she is going enters to he?*) 



SCENE V. 

Arztdas in the greatest haste. The above. 

Arzidas. 
O queen, by all the gods I do entreat 
Give up this Indian war, and make a peace ! 

Semiramis. 
What can have happened that you cry for peace ? 

Arzidas. 
Arbaces and Otanes, the two satraps. 
That were to lead another army here. 
Themselves have raised the standard of revolt. 
And numbers more have followed in their train. 
While we the troops conducted through the waste, 
Have they come down upon us from the north, 
And on the river's farther bank arrived. 

Semiramis. 
Who is their chief? 

Arzidas. 
O mistress, from the dead — 
Semiramis. 
Nought of the dead ! Their chief, who is it ? 
Arzidas. 

Menon 
And Alilat — 

Semiramis. 
Not Ninus ? Tiridates? 
So bad we all the dead come back again . 
Arzidas. 

No, Menon 

Semiramis. 
Menon, say'st thou ? Say it not ! 



SC. V. OF THE AIR. 93 

An evil ghost, a monster of the deep, 

But Menon not ! not he! The gods would lend 

To his blind eye, to give him just revenge, 

More light amid the contest, than to mine. 

Decide we then ! I am Semiramis, 

That is enough — On ! let the trumpet sound! 

Arzidas. 
O hear me ! Not at present any right ! 

Semiramis. 
Yes, even now at present fight and blood, 
And nothing else than fight and bloodshed now ! 

Arzidas. 
Mak'st thou not peace at present, we are lost: 
This evil tale of Menon, Alii at, 
And Ninyas, discourages our friends, 
And those already wavering drives to treason. 

Semiramis. 
And even therefore nought but fight and blood ! 

(An Officer comes in haste.) 

Officer. 

O queen ! the troop, which on the farther bank 
You left to guard the passage of the bridge, 
Has been by Menon set on and destroyed. 

Semiramis. 
On then into the fight ! 

Arzidas. 

See, queen, the heaven 

Semiramis. 
The heaven gives us a pattern, for it fights. 

Arzidas {kneeling before her). 

Upon my knees I do intreat you, queen 

Semiramis. 
Stand up, fainthearted ! go ! betray me now ! 

Arzidas. 
What is your will ? How is the fight to be ? 

Semiramis. 
As against gods and dead men. Go ! I come. 

(Arzidas and the Officer go.) 



94 THE DAUGHTER ACT V. 

Semiramis. 
Like the whirlwind have T been borne 
Over the surface of Life, and its heights 
Have I cast down from their place in the cloud?,. 
Its valleys have I filled up. 
Armies of nations have disappeared, 
Vanished away with horses and wains, 
Threatening fortresses have like earthen 
Cottages fallen before my breath, 
And the wrecks of demolished thrones 
Have marked the path of my course. 
When I a child was, kings my inferiors, 
Bore me as queen on a golden seat; 
When I was empress, in dust before me 
Waited twenty dependant sovereigns 
My command, the sign of my will. 
And me will Age with the snowy head, 
Me will Blindness vanquish now ? — 
Blindness vanquish ? — Revenge of the gods ? — 
Has the cruel steel for him destroyed 
The crystal watchtowers of the soul, 
Falls on me the guilt of his woe ? 

(suddenly frightened.) 

Who there answers ? Who cries Woe ? 

Officer. 
No one, mistress. 

Semiramis 

(giving a sign to her Train to go). 

The psean resound ! 
That it may banish the terrible sound. 

(The Train goes off to the left: she herself is § 
to follow ) but stops and remains alone.) 

Forth, stranger sense of fear, from out my soul ! 

To evening redness morning red succeeds ; 

^ven death builds over me a triumphal arch : 
can but — let my scale go up or down — 
ly >plendour past with greater splendour crown, jjjj 

(She goes.) 



SC. VII. OF THE AIR. 95 

SCENE VI. 

The Country on the tvestern shore of the Indus, 
Menon led by Nergal comes with Arbaces, 
Otanes, and Train from the left. Lightning in 
the distance. 

Menon, 
How many lives, Otanes, has it cost us 
To pay our passage ? 

Otanes. 
Not two hundred quite, 
Menon. 
A cheap-bought victory, yet a weighty one ! 
This fortunate beginning, and perhaps 
The name of Menon too, will to the queen 
The direst foes that threaten chieftains' schemes, 
The loss of heart and indecision bring. 

(An Officer comes from the right.) 

Officer (to Menon), 
The spies inform us, chieftain, that the fight's 
Begun already on the further shore ; 
But clouds tempestuous rest upon the field, 
And their obscurity conceals the fight. 

Menon. 
The gods themselves enlist upon our side. 

(to Arbaces and Otanes.) 

On gallant friends ! the bridges let us storm. 

{Arbaces, Otanes, and the Officer gooff to the rigJU.) 



SCENE VIL 

Alilat and Ninyas come with their Train from the 
left. Menon. 

Alilat. 

The gods preserve thee, Menon, through this day! 
(She embraces Menon.) 



96 THE DAUGHTER ACT V. 

NlXYAS. 

The same, dear uncle, do I wish thee too. 

Mexox. 
Welcome here, Alilat, beloved wife ! 
Welcome my prince, amidst thy army here ! 
Yet no, that is deception of my tongue, 
For to my heart you are not welcome here. 
You should stay in the rear : amid the throng 
Where death, the unrelenting driver, leaves 
Even to the gentle not the power to spare, 
Thy sex,* thy youthf, no business have to be. 

NiNYAsi 
How, uncle, will you set me on the throne, 
And yet not have me learn the art of war? 

Mexox. 
Prince, learn to build ! 'Tis easy to destroy. 

Alilat. 
The long-used privilege to be thy guide 
I never can so easily resign; 
For in my hand a vacancy I feel 
That gives me pain, if in it lies not thine. 

Mexox. 
O be it thine then always me to lead : 
Who could more truly, lovingly than thou ? 

Alilat (embracing him). 

My ardent longing, with the wish once more 
As conqueror thee to see, has brought me here. 

had I saved up all my love before, 

To love thee higher, inlier now than e'er ! 

(She leads his hand to her face. J 

FeeVst thou the tears of heated feeling pour, 
Which from the heart's full sea of joy run o'er? 
Mexox. 

1 feel them. Could I also see thy smile, 
Thy smile of joy : the sight of that would be 
The most delightful that an eye could see. 

* To Alilat. f To Ninyas. 



SC. VITI. OF THE AIR. 97 

Alilat. 
No, no,— -thy thought presents it fair I know : 

Scarce can my heart indeed its joy control; 
But never have my looks been wont to show 

The mirror of a joy-elated soul. 



SCENE VIII.. 

TJhe above. Otanes comes from the right, and after 
saluting Ninyas and Alilat, turns to Menon. 

Otanes. 
I come your further orders to receive; 
For spies, arriving from the further shore, 
Inform me that the battle is decided. 

Alilat. 
Decided ! great Immortals ! 

Menon. 

How decided? 

Otanes. 
So that the queen has met a full defeat. 
Broke is the firm-set column of the line, 
The fight disorganized: no longer stand 
The squares in order parted from the squares, 
No more the foot divided from the horse, 
No more by one, their leader's, mind impelled 
To one same end, the gather'd squadrons move: 
No, sense-bewildered, frenzy-driven flies, 
Like to of frighted wasps the giddy swarm, 
The crowd along the field, and over arms, 
And blood and corses goes the headlong flight. 
Before, to right, to left, destroying wide, 
Breaks through the swarm the foe his bloody way ; 
And from amidst the fearful tumult tower 
Like rocky islands from the ocean-waves 
The forms gigantic of the elephants : 
Here do they tread their victims in the dust, 



98 THE DAUGHTER ACT V. 

And hurl infuriate others in the air ; 

There fall on earth with showers of darts assailed, 

Like ruined towers, upon the men below, 

And as a horse, when rolling in the corn 

The halm destroys, beneath them crush the men. 

The right wing only still the fight maintains, 

For^jthere, they say, the queen herself presides. 

x\LILAT. 

She too will fall : foreboding tells my mind 
That her last hour of triumph now has come. 
O thanks, immortals, that ye give me yet 
The day to see, in which the proud one falls, 
The mischief-making sorceress that has brought 
Such countless woe on all I ever loved. 



SCENE IX. 
The above. An Officer comes from the right. 

Officer. 
Sir, to the bridge the flying squadrons throng, 
And threaten their own bulwarks to break through* 
Arbaces asks — 

Men ox. 
He shall draw back again 
Within our camp, to give the people room ; 
They will give up themselves. I come myself. 

(He goes off to the right. All follow.) 



SCENE X. 

Twilight. Lightning in the distance. A tremen- 
dous crash is heard. Two Soldiers come in the 
greatest haste from the right. 

First Soldier. 

What was. that crash ? 



SC. XL OF THE AIR. 99 

Second Soldier. 

It sounded as a house 
In ruins fell. 

First Soldier. 
Why, where are houses here ! 
(He comes near the shore, and points to the right.) 
O heavens ! Look there, the bridge is broken down. 
Ha ! what a supper for the stream to night ! 
See how they fall and scramble, horses, men, 
And camels all together ! — Now His o'er ! 
The whole engulphed rests underneath the wave 
As peacefully as in an earthly grave. 

Semiramis, and immediately after Arzidas, appear on 
the further shore. Semtramis points terrified to 
the right, as if at the fallen down bridge. Indians 
come on the same shore from the right. Semiramis 
and Arzidas vanish to the left. The latter disap- 
pears entirely. Semiramis springs into the stream, 
and swims it through, in spite of the arrows of the 
Indians, to the left, so that she disappears from the 
sight. 

First Soldier. 

That was the queen. — - — See there she comes again — 

Pursuers press on her — — O all ye gods ! 

She plunges in the flood — fights with the stream — 

High-spirited, unvanquishable queen ! 

O shame and treason that we ever left her ! 

Now she has reached the shore comes this way 

here — — 

Away ! I dread the lightning of her eye. 
(They go off to the left.) 



SCENE XI. 

Soon after appears Semiramis from the left, without 
her turban, with her hair loose, the Crown in her 
hand. Later, the two Soldiers. 

Semiramis. 
The Crown has yet been rescued ! Baffled Indus, 
Think'st thou, to be the eternal stream of Time ; 



100 THE DAUGHTER ACT V. 

That bears down crowns and empires? Be content 
That thou hast drunk the life-blood of a queen. 

(She sets the crown again upon her head. The two 
Soldiers come back, but run away as soon as they see 
the Queen.) 



SCENE XII. 

Arzidas, spent, supporting himself on his Sword 
comes from the left. 

Semiramis. 
How goes it, my true x\rzidas ? 
Arzidas, 

To th' end : 
My latest strength the stream has reft away: 
O queen, what a disastrous day is this ! 
Brave swirnm'st thou bleeding through the Indus' waves-. 
Yet no free city here appears in sight 
To grant thee safety in its friendly walls-: 
Here see I foes, 

(pointing to the right) 

Foes see I also there. 
Semi ram is. 

Xot safety do I seek : I wish alone 
To die as queen upon my own domain. 

Arzidas. 
Hadst thou but conquered, I would gladly die ! 

Semiramis. 
That hope is past. — Saw'st thou the gloomy warrior, 
The triple-headed, on the car of fire ? 
That was the Indus' god, that for tbem fought. 
Me too indeed a goddess-mother bore, 
But mightier are these gods of Ind than I, 
And they, not men, have brought me to this end. 

Arzidas (after a short pause). 
My royal mistress, let me kiss thy hand, 
To take farewell. I feel, my eye grows dark ; — 



SC. XIV. OF THE AIR. 101 

That rock the pang of parting life shall hide, 
Because I will not by my dying scene 
Distress the eye of my beloved queen. 

(He kisses her hand which she reaches him, and with- 
draws himself to the left.) 



SCENE XIII. 

S emir am is alone. 



So with the latest of her subjects' lives 
Concludes the empire of the world's great queen ; 
But so will not my memory cease to be : ; 

From heaven's remotest orbit shall I see 
How deeply filled with wonder, yes, with fear, 
What I have done the later world shall hear; 
To each far star, on heaven's remotest ends, 
The hymn of wonder to my ear ascends. 

(She sets herself spent against a natural bank of rock r 
so that the rock itself serves her for a rest lo lean* 
against.) 

It is no throne — and what is that to me — 
When this dark lonely passage — to the throne 
Of him, the king of light — my bridegroom, leads? 

There does it lead 1 shall behold him there — — « 

Then — light myself —his light unparted share ! 

( She sinks back senseless on the Bank. Soon there* 
upon appear coming from the right) 



SCENE XIV. 

Mbnon, Altlat, Nintas, and Train led by the two 
Soldiers. 

First Soldier. 
Here was the queen just now. 
Ninyas. 

There is she still. 



102 THE DAUGHTER ACT V. 

I will have no one do her any harm. 

(He has hastened to Semieamis, and tries to support 
her. To the others) 

Keep back ! — She bleeds ! — Ah me, she scarcely 
breathes ! 

Mexon. 

fairest star ! must thou so young expire ? 

Alilat. 

Has she from thee this glowing praise deserv'd ? 
Yet to the fall'n F will not envy that. 

Menon. 

Thou art true love, eternal constancy, 

The stedfast earth that bears the weight of life ; 

She was the star-bright heaven spread over life. 

Thou art the much-beloved of my heart, 

The high-celestial, wonderful was she. 

(The evening-twilight is complete.) 

Semiramis 
(revives, looks motionless at those around her, feels 
after her crown, and lets her look rove upward, rais- 
ing herself up.) 

1 see my mother in the robe of night, 

(She takes a step towards the middle, Ninyas with her 
to support her.) 

Her hair enw^reath'd with stars of glimmering light. 

(as if she was listening to something; then hastily 
going two steps forward) 

She calls me through the breeze of evening mild, 
Come to thy sleep, my child ! 

(She sinks hack in Menon's arms and dies. Alilat 
and Ninyas support her.) 

THE END. 



NOT E S. 



Page 5, line 9. — To understand this derivation, it is necessary 
to know- that the word Semiramis in the Syrian language signifies 
a mountain-dove, as we are informed by Hesychius, who is more 
explicit in this etymology than Diodorus, from whom this history is 
taken. 

P. 12, 1. 32, 33. — This passage is a singular instance of the 
effect of alliteration. The single want of the turn on em and sein, 
destroys in the translation all the grace of this clause in the original. 
The beauty of the sentiments however in this whole scene is such as 
cannot be lost in any translation. 

P. 19, 1. 5 Kind for child is used by Shakspeare. It is pro- 
nounced short, like Ind. 

P. 21, last line. — / answer at your calling.] Apparently 
alluding to the last words of Menon in Act I. 

P. 23, 2d line from the end.— All that follows to the end of this 
act is closely copied from Calderon (pp. 161 — 165 and 177—195 
of Gries's translation) : the tenth scene almost verbatim. 

P. 39, 1. 9, sqq. — The three following scenes are perhaps the 
only ones in the whole tragedy where the imitation is decidedly 
inferior to the original. The corresponding scenes in Calderon 
(p. 186 — 191) are among the most beautiful and pathetic in the 
whole play. The soliloquy of Menon in the first of them is a parallel 
to Milton's in the third book of Paradise Lost ; and the appearance 
of Chato in the next is much more striking than that of Alilat. — 
Chato is one of those absurd characters, half fool and half knave, 
which the old poets seemed to have considered as necessary to their 
plays as the kings of old time to their courts, but which in modern 
times have been discarded from both, having been found to be 
equally in both instances more troublesome than amusing : of 
whom every reader will be disposed to say as he does of himself in 
a different sense : 

i; Immer komm' ich doch unzeitig." 
I always come inopportune. 

Yet in the present instance his presence produces a much greater 
effect than a more dignified character could do. The sight of Menon 
reduced to converse with this foolish and worthless character, his 
readiness to reward him for so trifling a service as he does him, and 
the heartless and mercenary return he meets with, suggest to 



NOTES. 

every reader, and probably did to Raupach himself, all the reflec- 
tions that Alilat makes : and which are as much more impressive 
when made by the reader than for him, as actions always are than 
words. This inferiority however is no fault of the author, as the 
introduction of such a character as Chato would have been quite 
unsuitable in modern tragedy, and besides the part of Alilat in this 
scene is necessary to all the future scenes in which she appears. 
The sublime scene of thunder, lightning, flood and fire, with which 
the drama concludes, as well as much of the dialogue, have been 
omitted : the former for obvious reasons : the second, I suppose, as 
being unnecessary. 

P. 47. 1. 7. — See Act IV, near the end. But the highest value 
of this passage is the moral lesson it inculcates : for it is scarcely 
possible to conceive any accumulation of circumstances more calcu- 
lated to inspire the most unconquerable resentment than the situa- 
tion of Menon; and yet I believe no one can read this passage 
without feeling that were he in the same situation he would do 
just the same. 

Act V. Scene II — I believe that the reappearance of Menon as 
general will have nearly the same effect on every reader as Alilat 
anticipates from the people in the conclusion of the fourth act. A 
not very dissimilar instance in the modern history of those countries 
is given in Morier's Persia, though I cannot recollect the place. 

P. 88, last verse — There is a beauty in this- which will probably 
not be noticed at once by every one, and which was not perhaps in- 
tended by the Author. Menon evidently intends that the requital 
he speaks of should be understood as relative to Semiramis' depriv- 
ing Ninyas of his throne ; but we may easily suppose that there was 
at the same time a recollection of her rejection of himself, and a 
satisfaction at her reverse, 

P. 97, 1. This verse being unintelligible to me in the original, 
the translation is necessarily somewhat so too. The same is the case 
with several other passages ill the play. 



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